Immortal Enemies
by ShadowMajin
Summary: AU.  One is a predator of the night.  The other is the hunter of them.  Together they form an unlikely alliance, one destined for failure.
1. Chapter 1

Hey guys, ShadowMajin here and I'm back with my first of many continued GV Week entries. This one was my entry for GV Week 5.0, the theme being Monsters. The whole week was ripe for AU story ideas and the first thing I thought of when it came to monsters was vampires, werewolves, and Frankenstein. That would be the traditional Frankenstein pronounciation, not the Mel Brooks one lol. Anyways, after some thinking, this story was born. I've done some editing to this entry, but you can find the original version on my DA account. There's not much differences to be honest, but there are a couple extra lines added in.

Now, I know AU stories aren't exactly the most popular story in fanfiction, but I'll say now that I love AU. I enjoy reading those sort of stories very much and as my story list suggests, I enjoy writing them as well. There's just something about creating whole other realities and worlds that I find very compelling. I wish I saw more of it, so here I am making my contributions.

And finally, Happy Halloween everyone! Here's my treat for y'all. I'll be expecting some tricks later.

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><p>Videl hated the club scenes almost as much as she hated the guy that had put her there. The lights were too dim; the pounding beat of what was supposed to be this generation's version of music gave her headaches. And all of the inane chatter that the youths thought to be the world changing events were enough to make her want to starve to death.<p>

But once again, she wouldn't be here if it weren't for that one guy.

"Hey babe," one of those men they call metro-sexual said as he strolled up to her, a drink in one hand, and a flower in the other. "You look a bit bored. Is there anything I can do to you…I mean, for you to relieve that."

Videl rolled her eyes. Someone with fashion sense and a perverted attitude, just like all the other guys, though bathing more than once every few days was nice. Yet you could make over a pig and it would still be a pig. "I don't know; think you can handle someone like me?"

"I'll handle you the way you deserve to be," was his reply.

"Then put your money where your mouth is," Videl said as she grabbed his arm and began dragging him to the nearest exit. Though surprised, the guy lit up at her invitation.

Reaching the exit and swinging the door wide open, Videl and her new "friend" entered what looked like a deserted ally. She looked one way and saw only a dead end, the other way showing nothing more than an overfilled dumpster and scattering of trash and cardboard. A perfect place for what they were about to do. Heading towards the dead end, she felt the guy press himself up against her back, his hands wrapping around her torso, and his lips finding their way onto her neck.

Oh no, not gonna happen.

Moving a bit faster, she pulled out of his grasp, spinning around in time to see a surprised look on his face. Obviously he had been expecting a more submissive girl to play with. With both of her hands, she grabbed him by the shoulders and slammed him into a wall. A yelp came from him, indicating that she had forced him a bit too hard into the bricks behind him. What could she say, if she wasn't in the mood for a certain activity, she could get a bit violent.

Holding him there, she closed her eyes as she felt a well of desire spring up in her. Pressing herself against him, her eyelids flew open her, her mouth widening as her canines extended. With a growl she bit down onto the man's neck, feeling the blood leak from his wound.

It was feeding time.

At first he struggled as he immediately felt something was wrong. With her unnatural strength, she held him at bay as she began sucking the blood from his neck. As more and more blood left his system, the less and less he resisted until he fell unconscious. Normally this is where one would stop if they wished for a victim to survive an encounter such as this. A little more and they could become one like her, yet as of now Videl didn't feel like seeing this guy for the next few centuries. So she drained him of everything he had, ensuring that he would be just another statistic on the bizarre homicide charts.

When she finished, she withdrew her mouth, licking off any excess blood from her mouth. That would hold her for awhile now so no more club scenes tonight. Dropping his body to the ground, she made her way from the ally and headed for home.

This is how life for Videl has been for the last century. While it made hunting easier, she did wish the people at these clubs wouldn't drink as much alcohol as they did. It left a very bitter aftertaste when she fed and she wasn't as fond of it now much like when she started this life. The worst were co-eds. Videl didn't really target them, but when one was desperate, a shit-faced college girl was better than nothing.

As she came to a stoplight, the walk signal showing that familiar big red hand, she waited for her turn at crossing. How she missed the days when nature was everywhere. The thrill of the hunt was so much more satisfying than this current farce. That's what happened when you live for way beyond your natural life.

For those of you that hadn't caught on yet, yes, she was a vampire. Had been that way since…well, for a very long time, thanks in particular to that one bastard that had wooed her with poetry and admissions of love. Don't look too shocked, that's how most women were back in those days, even she was susceptible to such romance. Though today's version of romance was about as romantic as garbage.

Once the walk signal lit up the white walking man, she crossed the street, heading for the parking lot she found there. It was only a matter of time before she found her car, got in, and got the heck out of there.

Fortunately for her, her apartment wasn't too far away. To be honest, she preferred it over the damn castle others of her kind seemed to favor, if you could call an oversized mansion a castle. As much as she hated to admit it, the public perception of vampires as being aristocratic was very much true. Most vampires were of the lower class back in her original time, so naturally their attempt at living in wealth would reflect that era. Even she had partaken in that lifestyle until it went stale, which happened about the time mankind had gone berserk with industry and technological advances. One day she could walk through a small village and see farmland as far as the eye could see; the next those farmlands had given way to large, ugly factories churning out what a year's worth of products in half the time, maybe even less. That was when a different version of high-society began and the aristocratic one fell into disarray for her, the moment life as a vampire because empty to her. Of course, vampires were ones of very little changing so they held steadfast to it, despite the ridicule in popular literature they received with each passing decade.

Incidentally, that was around the time she began hating the bastard that did this to her. Yes, she enjoyed the lifestyle for quite awhile. It was better than what she had admittedly. Yet once the world began to change, she wished she hadn't been forced to see it. Everything, everyone she knew faded away until she was left with only memories. A solitary feeling that made her resent her position and the one that put her here.

And yes, when she began feeling melancholy, she had a tendency to repeat herself. Get used to it.

Minutes passed until her apartment building towered above her. Pulling into the sub-terrain parking garage, she found her spot and parked. It wasn't long after that that Videl was walking into her apartment, seeing her roommate cooking something in the kitchen.

Not even greeting him—yes, he was a guy—she walked into her room and began changing into something a lot more comfortable than the dress she was wearing, that being an oversized t-shirt and boxer shorts. "Who did you feed on this time?" she heard her roomie call out.

"Does it matter?" she called back, pulling on the shirt.

"I know you're a bit immune to killing people, Videl, but the fact remains you are killing them." Her roomie was standing outside of her door, leaning against the door frame as he watched her with narrowed eyes. Hmph, he was one to talk.

Everyone, meet Gohan Sing. Yep, Sing was his last name. She had gotten quite a laugh out of that name when they had first run into each other. After spending some time getting to know each other, he then preceded to try and impale her on a wooden stake. She didn't laugh at it much longer after that.

Perhaps she needed to do a bit of explaining. At the time, Videl hadn't known his name as Gohan. He had introduced himself as Vanyel Sing. Videl had to hit herself in the head several times not to see the obvious Van Helsing there. Go on, say it out loud. She'd wait. Anyways, apparently Gohan was the embodiment of the infamous monster slayer Helsing, one that passed itself down through the generations, seemingly at random. It would be pretty easy to spot if someone were paying attention, since each name they took on was some version of Van Helsing in place of their original name. Some had chosen the exact name while others, like Gohan, took on an edited version of it. What Gohan's real last name was, Videl didn't know, but at least she had his first. It was odd though. It had taken a few months and a close call—for her, embarrassingly enough—for him to give her the name. Said it was a token of his trust in her, something she hadn't been given in quite some time.

Now, you may be asking yourself why a vampire, such as herself, was living with a guy who seemed to be a vampire hunter named after one of the most famous ones in history. Well, that was a simple explanation. While managing to avoid a more permanent death—and destroying Gohan's previous apartment in the process—the two had come down to a stand off where they ended up making a deal. Gohan wanted to get rid of the vampire community in this part of the world and Videl wanted a particular vampire dead. Seeing a point they could compromise, they had made a deal. Videl would point Gohan to vampires and he would overlook her lifestyle. At least until their agendas clashed with each other once more.

That had been three years ago. With Gohan's apartment needing some repairs, he decided his best option was to move in with her. Quite an unexpected twist, but Videl did have a spare room for use. She originally used it to lure unsuspecting victims who needed a place to stay, but that option had been rendered moot. That and if she did bring someone here, she couldn't feast on them lest Gohan bring out that big scary stake of his, and trust her, she still had nightmares about it. Logically, one would try to get rid of it, but the last time she did, she had gotten a large amount of garlic in her face and it had taken three weeks for the stench to go away. She was still teased to this day by her fellow kin. Well, the ones she ran into anyways.

"I think we've been over this already," Videl said as she walked to the vampire hunter, brushing pass him as she headed into the living room. "I can't change who I am because you find it detestable."

Plopping down on the couch, Videl immediately grabbed the TV remote and flipped it on. Crossing her legs, she flipped through a few channels before saying. "I've got another one for ya."

She heard Gohan back in the kitchen, cooking up something that smelled pretty good to her. "Is it another underling this time?" he said annoyed.

"Nope, this one's a higher up." Videl shifted herself around, turning to look at Gohan. "The guy is Nostramos Krillen. He's a bit of a joker, but a few baby steps away from the local leadership in the city. He'll be able to tell you who's running the city and how well-connected he is to them."

"When and where."

Videl could feel a shiver run up her spine. It wasn't often she heard Gohan speak with that tone of voice. So confident, so deadly. It was quite a turn on, she freely admitted. It was the same tone he used when he had tried to kill her too, making her experience fear for the first time in quite awhile. It was very likely she was sick in her head somewhere. "He'll be at the club I was at tonight, the Canaanite. He likes to meet up with a blonde woman there. I don't know if she's a vampire or not, but I would think she is since most vampires don't meet up with humans as frequently as they have without the human being turned."

As she stared at the man, she could his face considering everything she had said. It was almost machine-like. His eyes were always focused though, seeming as if they could look into her soulless body and pick out the lies and truths that floated about. Finally, he said "When."

So caught up in his gaze, she had forgotten that second part of his earlier demand. Or was it the first? Damn it, who cared? "In two nights. He usually stays there until the witching hour."

Gohan nodded his head. Slowly, his serious face melted away into a friendlier one. "I made steaks if you want one."

A belch rip through her lips. "Sorry, just ate." Taking another sniff of the aroma in the air, she couldn't help but lick her lips. "Though I think I might have a little more room."

As she got up from the couch and walked into the kitchen, she couldn't help her teasing nature as she drew near Gohan. For someone that was deadly to anything that moved he was still a bit uneasy with someone of the opposite sex. Weird considering that he lived with a female, not to mention tried to kill said female—sorry for the repetition, but that sort of thing was hard to get over—he had such unusual quirks like that.

That still didn't stop her from making him feel uneasy.

Pressing herself lightly against his side, she felt the young man freeze. "Ya know, if the steaks are just as good as they smell, I might be in the mood for some…desert," she purred.

"I-I didn't make any," he stuttered.

Putting on a pout, she said "That's a shame. Though, perhaps we can enjoy ourselves in a _different_ way." Just as she said "different," she leaned more into Gohan. His reaction was priceless as his face went bright red. It got even redder when she felt his pants becoming tighter. Mmmm, it was good to know she could still elicit such reactions out of some men. It was a shame Gohan didn't want to follow through on what his body wanted, but that was okay. When the day their alliance ends, it'll be much easier to fight against him without having an attachment.

"H-here's your steak," was all he said as he handed a plate to her. Taking it, Videl indulged in one last act of mischief, leaning in closer to him taking in a very obvious breath of air, getting a generous amount of his scent. Backing away, she sauntered her way back to the couch, enjoying every minute of his frustration.

Though destined to be enemies once more, Videl definitely wanted to enjoy these uncomfortable (for him) moments.

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><p>A few things about the chapter. I have no clue as to how vampires turn people into vampires. I just know that they bite someone and that's about it. Whether drinking blood is necessary or if there's some point-of-no-return, I have no clue. It always seems at random on who's turned into a vampire or who just becomes dead, since I've seen both in movies and such. So instead of going out and researching it, I've just made up my own little scenario for it. I hope I don't offend someone's knowledge on the subject.<p>

Also, I added a little sensuousness into Videl's personality, which you saw in the last scene. From what I've gathered from movies and such—again—vampires tended to be primal in their desires. Very indulgent too. So I wanted to put that influence into the girl's personality, at least for this story. Hopefully it didn't come off too contrived. It won't be a common thing in the story, mostly because I'll forget about it or there's more serious issues at hand, but I do want to have it pop up in the more laid-back moments.


	2. Chapter 2

The pounding beat of the Canaanite washed over Gohan as he stared out into the mass of mingling, dancing bodies. He was seated at a table, a glass of water in his hand as he sipped from it. It was his second glass after he had nursed a few beers from the bar, his logical camouflage inside this nest of active bar hoppers.

Setting his glass down amongst the small group of empty glasses on his table, he feigned interest at the topic his fellow tablemates were fascinated with: was it okay for prison guards to beat on inmates when they got out of line. About an hour ago, he had been approached by two prison guards—one that had the build of a football linebacker and the other who was large, but could have benefitted from losing a little weight—and one of them had asked if he had been willing to share his table. With a friendly nod, the two guards had sat down, along with an attractive woman at the flabby guard's side. The two were engaged, Gohan learned a moment later, set to marry in a couple of months and were visiting the other guard since they were in town. After the introductions, the three had launched into friendly banter, Gohan adding his piece every once in awhile to show he was following them.

"—and the guy just refused to come out of his cell. Now, my job isn't to babysit this guy, it's to get him in line with all the other inmates and get them into the mess hall. So I pulled out my nightstick and hit the guy a couple times until he came out of his cell," the linebacker guard was saying. Gohan gave him an amused look as he took another sip from his water glass. "I mean, what else was I supposed to do? If I didn't get him out of his cell, the guy wouldn't respect me, and if he doesn't respect me, he would pull more crap like this later on until none of the inmates respected me. He gave me no choice but to hit him!"

"You did the only thing you could do," the flabby guard replied, taking a drag from his newly-lit cigarette. "If you're not respected, the job can only go downhill from there."

Gohan shifted himself in his chair, his jacket rubbing against the chair's back. It was an ordinary Rancher's jacket, not the popular leather trench coat most infamous vampire hunters were perceived to wear. In Gohan's opinion, those were utterly stupid to wear, especially if you wanted to go unnoticed. What better way to announce to the whole world you were up to something? Besides, leather always seemed to chafe the young man in the most uncomfortable of ways.

So instead of looking cool, he looked like he belonged at a club. A nice button-up shirt, some slacks, and comfortable shoes, and he looked like he just came from a blue-collar job and was looking for a night to chill out. Exactly the image he was looking for. It was fortunate that today was a bit chillier than was usual for this time of year. It allowed him to hide a few of his "tools" on the underside of his jacket.

Letting his eyes wander, he quickly located an elevated platform in the corner of the club, decorated with the most expensive furniture in the establishment. Metal railing surrounded the platform, ensuring that not just anyone could get onto it, the only entrance being a small staircase with a bouncer standing in front of it. That was the VIP section of the club, and if Gohan knew his target as well as he thought he did, the guy would be showing up there.

And know him he did. In Gohan's experience, vampires always sought out the best of what life offered. Mansions, fine clothes, fancy cars…club VIP sections; anything a normal person coveted, the vampires wanted. Though for some reason they stayed away from the sci-fi conventions despite their obvious popularity. Gohan hadn't been able to figure that one out yet.

Seeing that his target had yet to arrive, he put his focus back on his tablemates. The two guards had moved from work problems to family problems, the linebacker guard explaining how he wanted more time with his kids and how much of a not-so-nice-word his ex-wife was. Looking at the other two people at the table, Gohan's eyes soon caught the attention of the only girl there, the girl giving him a small smile to signify that she was just out of the loop of this topic as he was. She had been silent through most of the conversation, but she had talked more than Gohan had so far.

Returning the smile, Gohan did his best to follow the conversation for a bit, but soon found himself looking about the club again. As it turned out, his restless eyes rewarded him as he caught sight of three burly men dressed in smart-looking suits. A bodyguard unit, he was sure of. The three stopped in front of the bouncer at the VIP section, spoke for a moment with him, and the bouncer left. A moment later and a small, bald man emerged from the grouping of guards, climbing the steps with ease and moving to his preferred seating, a spot far from the platform's stair entrance. However, it was then that Gohan noticed another staircase nearby the bald man's seating. It looked more like a wall design for the club's party scene, so it blended in nicely. The only reason Gohan had spotted the hidden staircase was because one of the red lights beaming down on the dance floor had moved over to the VIP section and lit up the hidden exit, a mixture of red light and shadows dancing at its entrance before fading away.

His attention was soon diverted though, when a very attractive blonde woman appeared by the bodyguards. Though the club was dim like most clubs, it was hard not to notice her. A revealing dress that hugged her like a second skin, a coy, enticing look on her face that hinted at something spectacular, but made no promise to give it away, and a graceful, confident walk that made many nearby men abandon what they were doing and just stare at her.

"Man, I gotta tell ya, that is the only reason why I come here."

Gohan jumped a bit as he tore his eyes away from the woman, looking at the linebacker guard bewildered. The guard had a knowing look on his face as he said "I take it this is your first time seeing her."

First time, yes, but Gohan had known she would have been here. At least that's what his intelligence-gatherer had told him. However, he needed to keep playing his part for the moment, so he nodded his head dumbly. The guard smirked at him before he too looked over to the woman. "Any time she shows up at this club is the highlight of my week," he said. "But mark my words, she's a gold digger. I've seen her plenty of times messing around with rich guys and they're always willing to pay for what ever she wants and trust me, she always wants the expensive stuff."

Nodding his head slowly as he soaked in this information, Gohan asked "So have you ever talked with her?"

"A couple times. She blew me off every time. Said I wasn't worth her time." At this, the guard scowled. "Bitch."

By now the woman was seated next to the bald man, flirting with him and doing everything she could to keep his attention on her, not that that was hard to accomplish. Staring at her a moment longer, Gohan then finished off his glass of water and let out a sign of contentment. It seemed there wasn't much to this woman other than sucking a man's wallet dry. Oh well, his job here wasn't to deal with her, it was to deal with the man she was trying to bleed.

Nostramos Krillen.

"Well, it was nice meeting all of you," Gohan said as he held out his hand to them all, each of them reaching out to shake his hand one at a time in response. "But it's best I get going. I've got to be up early tomorrow morning."

"Take care man," the flabby guard said.

Walking off, Gohan disappeared into the crowd, heading towards the restrooms. He needed a plan to get into the VIP section, one that didn't get him noticed and stopped by the guards. Unfortunately, climbing up the platform and over the railing was a surefire way to get noticed, and knowing this Krillen fellow, his bodyguards were the best of the best so there was no way he could get pass them without having a legitimate reason for being there. His old stand-by of "I have an important message for so-and-so" was not going to work here.

And yes, that stand-by had worked many a time. Vampires weren't exactly the smartest people on the planet after all.

Looking at the VIP section, Gohan felt the urge to know where those stairs went. Perhaps he needed to find his way to the upper floors and try to find where they went. If so, he could sneak right up on Krillan and get him out of there before his guards could do anything about it. Figuring that was his best plan so far, he began heading towards the exit.

As he neared it though, he heard a loud cheer from beyond its doors. Looking through the doorway, he saw a man escorting two women, each one wrapped around the waist by one of his arms. The guy looked familiar, someone from a movie he saw a few weeks ago. Hmm, perhaps he didn't need to go searching after all.

Moving to a side, he watched at the movie star release his hold on the women, pulling out a laminated card from his pocket, and flashed it to the club's bouncer. Though he didn't see much of the card, he couldn't help but notice the large, bolded VIP on the card. Perfect. Relaxing his body, Gohan began to stagger towards the entrance, trying to time himself right. He kept his eye on the movie star as the man shoved his card back into his pocket, the man holding out his arm to allow his dates to enter first. Once the girls had passed through the doorway, large smiles on their faces, the movie star made his way in.

As if they had rehearsed it before hand, Gohan stumbled into the man, his hand quickly removing the card from his pocket and put it in his own. The movie star was oblivious to this action. "What's your problem, idiot!" he shouted at Gohan, half in anger, half trying to be heard over the booming music.

"You…look familiah…" Gohan slurred in response, staring at the man with glazed eyes.

The movie star immediately scowled at him. "Bloody drunk. Learn to hold your liquor better." Pushing passed him, the actor wrapped his arms around the women he had come with and pushed his anger aside with ease. "Sorry for the hold up ladies, shall we enjoy ourselves?"

Looking after the three dumbly for awhile, Gohan then staggered off along the wall of the club, slowly correcting his stumbling gait into a stronger stride. Coming to a stop eventually, he looked over towards the VIP section, keeping his eyes on the three bodyguards there. Sooner or later, that actor was going to show up there and try and get access, only to be rudely rejected by three guys that looked as if they would use his head as a basketball between them. After he would get angry and outraged, he would eventually leave with his women in tow. Gohan would wait a little after that before he would make his own move, allowing for the guards to be less riled.

And as he predicted, the actor had shown up, demanded entry, was refused, searched himself for his card, got even more angry, and after a few threats—or so Gohan imagined was being said—the actor left with his women, declaring that he would never show up here again.

With a small smile, Gohan just waited, biding his time until he felt he was ready. With a purposeful stride, he moved towards the VIP section, his hand grasping the stolen VIP card. Once he arrived there, he flashed the card at the three guards, they in turn allowing him his stolen access. It was a little odd that the guards didn't give him a more thorough examination considering he wasn't dressed as someone suited for the VIP, but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Eyeing Krillen and his escort for a moment, Gohan then sat down at the nearest couch, marveling for a moment the difference between the cushions and wooden chairs everywhere else. A waitress showed up a moment later, asking for his order, which he gave her one he had no intent on drinking. Appearances were everything after all.

Fortunately, he didn't have to keep his appearance up for long as Krillen's escort suddenly stood up and began walking towards the small staircase. Faintly, he heard her mention something about visiting the lady's room, which was all fine and good. It left his target completely alone. The woman sauntered passed him, her blue eyes giving him a look over, as if she were vying whether he was worth her time. It only lasted a second before she descended the stairs and disappeared into the crowd.

Waiting a few moments, Gohan then slowly stood up and moved towards the wall. Following along it, ignoring the completely obvious back staircase, he then closed in on his target, ready for action.

Once he stood behind the short man, Gohan leaned himself down and spoke out "Nostramos Krillen?" The man turned to look at him a second later, a frown on his face. It was always best to confirm a target before attacking them Gohan had found in his experience. That was a story for another time though as the bald man's current action proved his identity.

Instantly, Gohan had one of his arms wrapped around his neck, his hand gripping onto the bicep of his other arm. Bending his other arm at the elbow, that arm's hand went to the back of Krillen's head and pushed it forward, causing the man's throat to be crushed against his forearm.

Even as the man stiffened from the action, his own arms moving to try and break the headlock he was in, Gohan used his strength to haul the short man over the back of the couch and dragged him to the back staircase. By now Krillen was really struggling now, his legs thrashing about as his hands gripped onto his arms, trying to dislodge him. Tightening his hold, Gohan forcibly dragged the man up the stairs.

The average vampire was said to have the strength of ten men and from what the young man could tell, Krillen definitely had this strength. If he had been a normal man, his arms would have been destroyed, the bones shattered into pieces. As it were, Gohan wasn't a normal man. He had the strength of at least twenty men flowing through his body, all of them belonging to his predecessors in their former lives. An average vampire's grip meant nothing to him at this point.

It wasn't long until he felt Krillen go limp in his arms. Gohan didn't let up his pressure, however. It wasn't that he was wary of the vampire playing possum or anything; it was more like he didn't care. It wasn't like strangling the guy was going to kill him. Make him unconscious, but definitely wouldn't kill him. Reaching the top of the stairs, Gohan found himself in a small hallway, doors facing each other on either side of the corridor. At its end was another door, a glowing red EXIT sign hanging above it. Dragging his prey, he saw another sign on the wall next to that door, an arrow pointing at it and declaring "TO ROOF."

Kicking the door open, another set of stairs greeted him, a small landing at the top of them and another door way there. Climbing them, he eventually arrived at the door and kicked it open as well. Walking onto the roof, he dropped Krillen down on the middle of it. Kneeling down next to him, he pulled out a couple of zip ties and bounded the short man's wrists and ankles with them. Gohan wasn't expecting these things to hold the vampire, but they did make a distinctive snapping sound when they broke. A sound that Gohan could and would use to his advantage. It would only take a second to break the ties, but that was all the time he needed to drive a wooden stake into his heart.

Suddenly, the door to the roof exploded outward, Krillen's three bodyguards charging out and stopping once they caught sight of Gohan and their boss. Looking at them for a moment, Gohan slowly stood up, turning to face them as one of his hands disappeared inside of his jacket and grabbed hold of his favorite stake.

"Who are you?" the guard in the middle of the three barked at him. All three of their bodies looked coiled, ready to strike at a moment's notice. Gohan in turn looked as if a stray breeze would blow him off the roof. An appearance he had found useful many a time.

"I don't give my name to dead men," he replied in a calm, even voice. The guard on the left bared his teeth in anger, revealing two distinctive, sharp canines. A quick glance to the guard on the right showed a similar sight. Oh good. These were vampires. At least he would be sleeping tonight.

Simultaneously, the three charged him. Watching them for a second, Gohan then moved to the left, his hand still hidden in his jacket. These were well-trained guards, so they obviously knew he was hiding something from them. And it was foolhardy to try to take them all on at once. By moving to one side, Gohan hoped it could buy himself a couple precious seconds to take down one them quickly before the other two could stop him. It also helped that the leftmost guard was also slightly faster than the other two as he was pulling apart from them.

Completely in control, Gohan waited until the very last second before lunging towards the left guard, whipping his hand out from underneath his jacket driving his wooden stake into the vampire's chest. The vampire's eyes opened wide before they rolled into his skull, but Gohan didn't bother watching, pulling his stake out with a practiced quickness. The middle guard was already closing on him, swinging a fist at him.

Immediately, Gohan blocked the fist, grabbing onto the guard's arm and raising it up into the air, flipping the stake in his hand so the point faced the opposite side, he then rammed the stake into the vampire's soft armpit, the point piecing into his heart from the side. Just like his fellow guard, his eyes rolled into his head and he collapsed. Two down, one to go

Unfortunately, he wasn't quick enough to get out of this fight unscathed. Just as he had removed his woodened weapon from the corpse, the last guard had rammed his shoulder into Gohan's chest, sending him flying across the roof. He was only barely able to get the heels of his shoes to scrap against the roof before he fell to the ground, landing on his back. However, he didn't stay there long as he used his momentum to his advantage, swinging his legs up, and causing him to roll off his back. There was a momentary straining of his neck as he did this, but it was worth it to be back on his feet. A dull pain in his neck protested the maneuver, but he ignored it.

"Vampire Hunter," the last guard spat out at him. "I should have known."

Gohan couldn't help but goad him. "Yeah, you should have."

A high-pitched screech ripped from the guard's throat before he leapt high into the air, his hands held like claws as he closed in on Gohan for an aerial attack.

Again, Gohan waited until the last second before leaping to a side, the guard landing right where he had stood. Landing on the ground on his side, he immediately rolled onto his feet and pulled out a second weapon.

A small, plastic, orange water gun.

Hey, he already told you the life of a vampire hunter wasn't glamorous.

Aiming the water gun at the vampire, he immediately pressed the trigger down repeatedly, firing quick sprays of water. When the water hit the vampire's face, he let out a loud scream as smoke began pouring off his face, his hands reaching up to grab his face.

Gohan couldn't help the smirk on his face. Holy water spray gun. Got them every time.

Dropping the gun onto the roof, Gohan strode behind the vampire and put an end to his misery, driving his stake into his back and piercing the heart like the others. The vampire's screams came to an end a moment later, falling to the ground and off the stake. Kneeling down, Gohan wiped the blood off the stake using the guard's jacket before placing it back into his own jacket. The same with the water gun. With that done, he moved back to the still-unconscious Krillen.

However, that was when he was thrown for a loop. A moment after kneeling next to his target, something slammed into the side of his face, sending him flying away and crashing to the roof. Stunned, Gohan lied there for a moment before shaking it off, getting back onto his feet as quickly as he could.

He found the blonde woman standing next to Krillen, a look of hatred on her face as she glared at the young man. Stupid, Gohan chided himself. Videl had been right, this woman wasn't a normal human. He mentally shook his head. He could berate himself later, right now he had a woman to kill.

Narrowing his eyes, he tried to identify what exactly this woman was. His first instinct was to call her a vampire due to the strength behind that hit she had given him, but his hunter senses weren't confirming that. No, she wasn't a vampire. She was something else.

"Back off!" the woman then shouted at him, her cold blue eyes boring into him. "He's mine."

Gohan didn't like this one bit. He hadn't counted on a completely different creature to jump into his fight. He needed to know what exactly she was before he could do what he came here for. "What's he to you?" he shot back at her.

"The same as he is for you," she replied. "Prey."

She was hunting vampires too? A fellow vampire hunter like himself? No, that wasn't it. If she was, she would have killed this Krillen guy already. That wasn't even considering that he could practically see a mark of evil—a unique symbol identifying her as a wicked creature—on her, one that was similar to a vampire, but still different. "Then why isn't he already dead?" he asked. "If you're hunting him, then you've probably had plenty of times to strike him down."

A small smile graced her lips. "I'm not looking to kill him."

Suddenly, Gohan couldn't help but swallow. A nervous reaction he had when he was around certain people, but never around the creatures he hunted. This was a first and he didn't like it one bit. The hardened stance the woman had slowly softened until she stood sensuous in front of him, her eyes probing into his. There was a lushness to her that the young man couldn't help but notice. "Perhaps there is some way we can work this out," she said in a tone that stirred something within him. His body began to heat up as a blush began to appear on his face.

The woman strode to him, her hips hypnotically shifting from side to side. "I'm sure we can come to 'some' kind of arrangement. An enjoyable one for the two of us." With each step she took, the feeling in him grew, an excitement he had never felt before filling him with anticipation. Soon, the woman stood in front of him, lightly pressing her body against his as her arms wrapped around his neck.

That exciting feeling nearly exploded in him. His body was physically reacting to her touch, her presence. The only thing that stopped the feeling from overwhelming him was this nagging, screaming sound in the back of his head. Its shouting was quieting with every second that passed, despite its resistance. In spite of it, Gohan's hands slowly, shakily rose and touched the woman, one around her waist, the other to tangle his hand in her hair. Her eyes lit up with promise as her body pressed more into his.

It was only a flicker, but that was all it took. For one instant, something other than the willingness of the woman flashed in her eyes; something dark and foreboding. It was that flash that caused Gohan's hand to tighten in the woman's hair, gripping onto the back of her head. In one fluid motion, his other hand gripping onto her chin. Moving his mouth to her ear, he then whispered into it "_Vade Daemon_." Her eyes widened in shock before Gohan twisted her head sharply, an audible snap being heard a moment later. Feeling her body go limp, he released his grip on her, the woman falling to the ground in a crumpled heap. Staring down at her, Gohan's senses began to return, realization dawning on him what this woman was.

A succubus.

This was the first time he had come across such a creature. A demon that seduced men in order to drain them of their life energies and he had almost fallen into her clutches. Revulsion began to well up in him, though he quickly cast it aside. He wasn't sure how one got rid of a succubus, but casting it away seemed like a good option. He'd have to do some research a little later to determine if his current method was effective or if he should be expecting her to come after him later.

For the time being though, he needed to calm down, mentally and...well physically. The heat that succubus had stirred in him was slowly dying, but its presence was still a little unbearable at the moment. Sighing, he looked over at Krillen's still unconscious body. Right, he had a job to do. It was time he went about doing it.

After he finished thinking of perverted old men in speedos.

* * *

><p>To MindyK: Just letting ya know (again), glad you reeeeeeeeeeally like it lol.<p>

The conversation Gohan's "having" with those two prison guards is actually based on personal experience. I had that same group of people sit down with me in a pub and the conversation we had followed what was done in earlier in the chapter. While mine was longer, more detailed, and had several more colorful words involved, the basic gist is what's going on with Gohan.

Brownie points goes to the first reviewer that can figure out what language Gohan used and what he said at the end of the chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

_Videl trudged down the street, a large bag hanging over her shoulder. She grumbled with every step she took, the heavy weight of the sack making itself known, rubbing her nose with her plight. If it wasn't for her crappy washing machine in her expensive apartment shorting out, she wouldn't be here. But nooo, her landlord had to cut a corner somewhere and it just so happened to be with the apartment appliances._

_This was completely undignified for her, a vampire that had access to wealth most mortal could hardly dream about. And for all the wealth, she was reduced to having to make a trip to the local Laundromat in the dead of night just so she could have clean clothes. It was the only time she could do this because of her allergy to sunlight. If she had been a normal girl, she would have considered this action to be completely foolhardy since who knew what scum walked about the streets here. It didn't matter that she was in the better part of town, scum would go where scum wanted to go regardless of the environment or social exclusion. It went without saying that her pride refused to let her seek out assistance from her own kind and she'd be damned further than she already was if she would accept any._

_Unfortunately, the closest Laundromat was several blocks away, so as to hide itself from the towering edifices of the high class. No one begrudged a poor man from trying to create his own wealth, just so long as they never saw him do it. The next time Videl went apartment shopping, she was going to make sure she was closer to such a place in case of an emergency such as this._

_Reaching the place of her desires, she marched into the building, ignoring the presence of the other people within the Laundromat, moving all the way to the back of the establishment and dropping her laundry bag to the floor. Opening up one of the washing machines, she then began stuffing it full of her clothes until it could hold no more. Moving to the next one, she then put what remained in her laundry bag in there and closed both of the doors to her machines._

_It was then that she discovered she had a problem. Though she had brought some quarters with her, she had completely forgotten about bringing some laundry detergent. Of all the things she had forgotten to bring with her, it was the damn liquid soap. Now she had to either lug her laundry back to her place—so as not to have any of it stolen while she was away—and return with her detergent, or she could hope there was a nearby store that just happened to have something she could get her hands on quickly._

_Growling out her frustration, she nearly ripped the door of the closest washing machine to begin stuffing her clothes back into her bag when she heard someone clear their throat behind her. Turning her head to glare at the peon that felt they could speak to her without her consent, she found a tall young man with spiky black hair looking at her. Her first thought was immediately how much hair gel he had to lather on that odd hairstyle. The second was which way she should twist his head off for trying to talk with her._

"_I couldn't help but notice you seem to be frustrated," the young man said, an amused look in his eyes. Oh, was he being entertained by her now? The urge to drag him into the nearest alleyway and break him in half was becoming hard to ignore._

"_Oh, and what gave me away, hmm?" she replied to him scornfully. "Was it my aura of disdain? Or perhaps you thought I was about to abuse this poor, defenseless washing machine."_

_He cocked an eyebrow at her. "Why would you want to abuse a washing machine?"_

"_That's none of your business and I suggest you mind your own before I begin to abuse you."_

_The guy didn't seem to take her blatant hint as he looked from her face down to her laundry bag, then back at her. "I take it you forgot to bring some detergent."_

"_Oh, am I that obvious? You should be a detective."_

_He shrugged his shoulders. "You know, if you were just slightly nicer, you could probably ask to borrow some from somewhere here."_

_Videl blinked. Why hadn't she thought about that? Some of her anger began to drain out of her as she mulled that over. However, it seemed the guy wasn't quite done with his inspection of her. "And I'd be willing to bet you forgot dryer sheets too."_

_Her blue eyes flicked over to her bag, immediately realizing how woefully prepared she had been to come to this place. Her face flushed red from embarrassment. She felt like a novice trying to learn how to turn on a television. It wasn't a feeling she liked, then and now._

_Meanwhile, the guy had moved back to his own laundry and picked up a jug full of detergent, giving it a shake as the fluid within it made a swishing sound. This immediately caught her attention. Considering how she had treated the guy earlier, she doubted he was going to just let her use his own detergent. "Would you mind if I borrowed some of your detergent?"_

_A grin appeared on his face. "Only on one condition."_

_She held back a snort. She had called that one. "And that condition would be?"_

"_You have to say the magic word."_

"_And what would the magic word be?"_

_At this, the young man blinked at her stupidly. "Please," he said, as if that was the most obvious thing in the world._

_Another blush worked its way up her face. Why was she starting feel like an idiot around this guy? Barely talking with him for two minutes and she had done her best impression of a sunburn victim. "Would you mind if I used some of your detergent, please?" she asked._

_The grin returned. "Not at all." Walking towards her, he held out the jug to her, which she took graciously. Putting in the right amount in both washing machines, she then inserted some quarters into them and started the washing cycle. Feeling a bit of relief, she then approached the young man, returning his detergent to him._

_Once the jug was back in his hands, she let out a sigh, moving one of her hands to move some stray strands of hair from her face. "I'm sorry I was short with you earlier. Today hasn't been a good day for me."_

_Another shrug. "We all have our bad days," he said._

_A small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. Holding her hand out, she then said "My name's Videl. Videl Satan."_

_The young man looked to her hand, then up to look her in the eye. Taking her proffered hand, he gave it a firm shake. "Vanyel Sing."_

* * *

><p>Vampires don't dream.<p>

Lying on her bed, Videl stared up at the ceiling, her eyes slowly closing and opening lethargically. She hadn't had a real dream since the night she had been turned. The closest she had to what a normal person could have as a dream was more like a memory. Correction, it was a memory. For the last couple of centuries, she had slept while viewing everything she had done in her new life, along with some from her previous non-blood sucking life. Sometimes she was able to view happier times; others she had to watch as she did terrible things she couldn't say she regretted. For some reason, things she would have found abhorrent as a normal girl she didn't find as such. Perhaps she was becoming desensitized.

Tonight she had seen her first meeting with Gohan. They had ended up talking the whole time at that Laundromat until they were both done with the place. He had even walked her home as chivalry dictated. They had met up at the same Laundromat a couple times before they decided to go on a date. That date ended with Gohan trying to murder her and her fighting to stay alive.—in other words, the complete reversal of how she usually dated. On the whole, it was one of her more eventful dates.

Though, she still hadn't figured out how he found out about her life as a vampire. He hadn't divulged that bit of information in all the time they had known each other and anything she had used to research it hadn't been informative.

The sound of the apartment door opening alerted her to her roommate's return. He was the only one besides her that came into the apartment. Pushing herself up, she got off the bed and headed into the next room, finding Gohan taking his jacket off. For a Vampire Hunter, Videl had to admit he didn't look the part. She had been expecting dark leather and an odd assortment of killing tools, you know, like in the movies.

Instead she got a guy that preferred to look like he belonged on a ranch herding cattle. Many a time she had complained about his ensemble, to which he would retort "I don't see you wearing tight leather pants."

Now that was just a stupid idea. Not all vampires wore dark colors and there were more comfortable clothing materials than leather. She liked her cotton, thank you very much.

"How did it go?" she asked him, watching him as he settled down in one of the chairs at the kitchen table. He seemed tired, which was to be expected. He probably had a fight tonight, most likely with this Krillen guy, and one did not reach his position without having some power backing him up. There were exceptions, true, but highly uncommon.

"I got a couple names," he replied, staring at one of the walls, slumping in his chair. "They're usually found at those mansions your kind likes to dally in."

"What're the names?"

"Stirogi Crane and Omul de Suveran."

Videl paused. For a moment she thought she had misheard what Gohan had said, but the look on his face told her that she was sure she had heard him right. "Crane and Suveran?" she asked hesitantly.

Gohan nodded his head. "What do you know about them?"

"Crane is one of those vampires who believe in 'Vampire Superiority.' Instead of keeping to the shadows, he wants a hostile takeover. The only thing that keeps that from becoming reality is that the Council of Shadows is made entirely of the old guard."

Hmm, perhaps she needed to back up and explain something here. Vampire Society was just as convoluted as Mortal Society, despite what many would want you to believe. There were small factions of vampires that held different beliefs over their place in the world. Those like Crane had a superiority complex and wanted to have completely control of the world with every other living organism subservient to them. There were other factions that held similar beliefs, but what made each different was their approach to it. Some wanted an all-out assault of mortals while others believed in a subtle, quieter approach, and still others had their own ideas. At one time, Videl had that superiority complex, though she had dropped it about a century ago. She had witnessed a battle between two warring sides of mortals and had been blown away with the number of ways they had figured out how to kill each other. And if mortals could do that to each other, there was no doubt they would find ways to do that to vampires.

And opposing the vampires advocating vampire sovereignty were factions that wanted to keep to the old ways, though once again with varying ideas. It was a little much to go into and a completely different story all together, but what they all agreed on was keeping out of sight and out of mind of mortals, living in the shadows as they lived their lives in ignorance.

And standing above all of these factions was the Council of Shadows, basically the ruling party of all vampires. There were never a set number of councilmen, their numbers varying from a few to several at a time. One never knew how many were there except for those on the Council and they liked to keep it that way. But Videl did know that each councilman had been vampires for ages, reaching to times that she could not even fathom. For the last few millennia, the Council had advocating life in secrecy and anyone that stood as a threat to this was silenced quickly. So for vampires that wanted to take over the planet, they were rendered powerless despite all the actions they took. They weren't harmless by any stretch of the imagination, but none of them had reached a position where they could commit to their agenda without being disposed of shortly. Crane would never have his dreams realized as long as the Council opposed his agenda, but that didn't stop him from trying.

Gohan continued their conversation. "And what about Suveran?"

This time, Videl shook her head. "I can't help on that one. I've only heard that name in passing, but from what I can tell he's up there. Very ambitious."

"Then it sounds like you need to get us some Intel," Gohan concluded. "When can you go to the local mansion?"

Videl scowled at that. "In case you haven't noticed, I don't like going to the mansion. There's a reason I chose to live in an apartment."

The young man cocked an eyebrow at her. "Did you do something to get kicked out?"

This time an impatient look appeared on her face, her arms crossing over her chest as she looked anywhere except at Gohan. "No, I just don't like the place alright? I've managed to stay away for ten years and I'd really like to stay away for ten more."

"You know, it would help if you'd tell me why you don't want to go."

The scowl returned, along with her eyes focusing back on Gohan. "I don't like the people there, okay? The last time I was there, they got on my nerves so much I nearly killed a few of them."

"So this is a pride issue. Get over it."

"How dare you? This has nothing to—"

"I don't care," Gohan interrupted. "So there's some bad blood between you and the mansion dwellers. Deal with it. Right now we have more important things to worry about, like finding out what we can about this Suveran guy and disposing of Crane. So you _will_ go to that mansion, kiss and make up, and get us the info we need."

"You can't tell me what to do!"

"You're right, I can't," he acknowledged. "But if you want to get rid of that one guy you hate so much, you'll do it."

A furious look covered Videl's face before she stormed off towards her room, slamming the door behind her. Every time Gohan wanted her to do something she didn't want to do, he always mentioned the guy who turned her. And damn it, it worked every time he did. He was right of course, but that didn't mean she had to like it.

The mansion would have to wait a couple days though. It was almost dawn, which she wouldn't dare go moving about and she would need to feed come nightfall. There was no telling how long her hunting would take, so that meant the night after would be the time to make that dreaded trip.

Faintly, she could hear Gohan moving about in the next room, most likely inspecting any damages that may have been done to his clothes and weapons, followed by caring for his own injuries. If he had any severe ones, he would have already seen to them upon getting back, or possibly somewhere out in the field. Seeing as he hadn't dragged out a first aid kit, it appeared he hadn't been excessively harmed tonight. A pity since she wasn't all that happy with him at the moment.

Looking to her clock, she let out an irritated sigh. The sun would be coming up in a little over an hour. She had to make some preparations for the next couple of days, get herself in the mindset she was going to need to go back to the mansion. She knew exactly what she was going to be facing when she got there and she wasn't looking forward to it. It also didn't help that she was helping out a Vampire Hunter, so that was one thing she was going to have to keep an eye out on. Nostramos Krillen wasn't some lackey that people would ignore; there would be talk about his sudden disappearance, if not his demise and she needed to keep an ear open to what news she could gather on that. She didn't need her fellow vampires suspecting anything about her.

Ugh, this trip better be worth it


	4. Chapter 4

_He knew exactly what she was the moment he saw her. The way she moved, the way she acted, the way she held herself screamed that she was more than she appeared. That and the fact he immediately saw her mark of evil. But hey, that other stuff sounded a lot more impressive than saying he basically saw her shirt size because the tag was sticking out of her shirt._

_He had greeted her, lowered her defenses around him, probed her for her intentions. Apparently she had only wanted to do her laundry because she had a broken washing machine. But still, now that he had spotted her, he had to dispose of her in a less populated place, where the only person that would be getting hurt was her._

_So he had followed her to her apartment, a place that was so expensive, he wasn't shocked at all. Vampires had this need to live in the lap of luxury, no matter the price tag. After making sure she had continued problems with her laundry appliances, ensuring that she would have future interactions with him, his plan had come to fruition when he proposed they have a date._

_A date that ended up being at his place._

_Sitting at his kitchen table, Gohan stared as his prey, hiding it behind a mask of interest. He had been surprised the girl hadn't realized who he was by this point, but he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. The dumber they were, the faster they went down._

"_You have a nice place," she commented for the second time that night, sitting in the chair across from him as she gave a cursory look about the place. Gohan had to hold back a snort. This was definitely _not_ as nice of a place that she had, but he couldn't let her know that he knew her lifestyle. In the meantime though, she began to look sheepish. "I've said that before, haven't I?"_

"_Yeah," he replied with a chuckle. "It's alright though, I'm just getting used to it myself. I just moved in a couple weeks ago. The last place I had was practically falling apart."_

"_So I see," she said as she eyed some moving boxes in the corner. To be honest, he had been in this place for two years, he just never got around to getting rid of those boxes. It helped to establish his story of a small town kid moving into the big city. "Have you finished unpacking yet?"_

"_No, not yet. Work sort of caught up with me so I haven't had the time or energy to finish it up."_

"_You know, I could help you out there," she offered, a flirtatious tone in her voice as she leaned towards him, the front of her shirt beginning to reveal some of her cleavage. So she thought she could hunt him huh? This should prove interesting. "I could come over and you can tell me where to put everything. You can use me in what ever way you want."_

_A small smile appeared on his face. This girl must have used that line quite a few times since she seemed so at ease saying it. Either that or she genuinely wanted to help, but he highly doubted that. "I might take you up on that offer," he replied as he leaned towards her, her eyes lighting up pleased. Keeping one of his hands under the table, he pulled out a wooden stake from its hidden place under the table, ready to pounce on her and drive its sharp point into her dead heart._

_Suddenly, the room shook violently, causing both of them to grasp onto the table to steady themselves. Various objects of Gohan's fell to the floor, ranging from books to now-broken dishes. "What was that?" she spoke up, looking around wildly._

"_I have no idea," Gohan admitted baffled. Quickly putting the stake back in its hiding spot, he then stood up, and began walking towards the door. "I'll check with the neighbors to see if they know anything."_

_Reaching the door, he grabbed the door knob and gave it a twist, pulling it open and stepping through. Instead of walking into the hallway of his apartment complex though, he found himself standing on a cobblestone street, marble buildings lining the street up and down. Several of the buildings had large columns at their fronts, giving the place an ancient appearance to them. However, this wasn't a peaceful sight as a few of the buildings were erupting in flames. Scattered on the street were various pieces of broken stone._

_Frowning at this, Gohan went to scratch the back of his head, mostly out of habit rather than puzzlement. It was then he realized he had a heavy weight on his arm, that weight proving to be a large round shield. Looking quickly to his other hand, a sharp sword gleamed in the light from the fires._

_That wasn't the only thing different either. Instead of his casual wear, Gohan was in a blood red tunic, a metal breastplate covering his upper torso. It looked as if he were prepared for war. Eyes widening, Gohan looked back up, seeing men running around him dressed in the same way. There were other people too, though they wore what he could've sworn were togas, but unlike the men dressed as himself, these people ran with no other purpose than to flee. Flee from what, Gohan didn't know, but he had the feeling he didn't want to stay there to find out._

_Turning around to go back into his apartment, Gohan was startled at the large set of marble stairs climbing up into some important looking building. Well, there was no going back now. He had no choice but to find out what the hell was going on and make sure he didn't get caught up in it._

"_Dominus Helsing!" a voice cried out, catching his attention immediately. A group of men dressed just like him jogged up to him, seemingly out of breath. "Quickly, we must reach the Temple of __Diéspiter__ before the _Lamia_ do!"_

"_Lead the way!" Gohan replied, immediately falling with the group as the ran down the street, the sound of their sandal-covered feet slapping against the ground filling the air, the jingling of their armor and weapons mingling with it as well. "Are they the ones responsible for the attack?" Gohan then demanded of the same man that addressed him._

"_Yes, they are," the man responded darkly. "They incited one of the _barbarus_ from the north, the Wisigothi. They are attacking the city as the _Lamia_ sneak in undetected. They want the artifact held in safe keeping at the temple."_

"_Then they shall be stopped."_

_Despite the chaos that invested the city, the Temple of __Diéspiter__ was left relatively untouched. Whether that was because the Wisigothi had yet to reach this place or just did not care for it at the moment, Gohan didn't know. After a few of the men did a quick inspection of the temple, it was discovered the artifact remained undisturbed inside, meaning the _Lamia_ had yet to arrive. Keeping a couple of men hidden within the temple as back up, the rest stationed themselves on the temple's steps, waiting for their dead foes to arrive._

_They didn't have to wait long as men dressed in animal skins and leather soon appeared, their skin pale as moonlight and clashing with the darker colors of their clothes. "It appears we were expected," one of them, a distinguished-looking man announced as his group came to a stop. "I suppose we should not have expected any less from the _Vampir Vânători_._

"_Crim_ă, _Moarte, take the flanks," he then ordered. At the mentioning of their names, two brutish-looking _Lamia_ straightened out their postures, creeping towards the outer flanks of Gohan's group. "Slaba, you watch our backs." At this, a young looking man with dead-looking eyes nodded his head, his carefully brushed hair bobbing with the movement. "Attack!" the man then shouted as the rest of his men rushed the temple._

_Gohan felt no fear as he leapt down the steps to do battle. In the back of his head, he wondered how he was going to take these_ Lamia,_ these vampires down since they were vampires and he wasn't exactly going at them with his preferred weapon. Who knew how long this fight was going to go on?_

_One of the vampires closed on him swinging his sword at him like a maniac. Calmly, Gohan dodged the swing, thrusting his sword soon after. The sword point easily pierced the vampire's body, running him through as his eyes bulged out of his head. He fell to the ground limply, sliding off of Gohan's sword as he did so. Not paying any mind to him, Gohan looked to his next foe, finding it to be the _Lamia _leader. Raising his shield, he blocked the man's first swing, pushing the blow back, and counterattacking with his own swing. In turn, the leader managed to bring his sword back, blocking the attack, and parrying it._

_It was at this point that Gohan realized he wasn't moving his body—that is, he wasn't in control of it. Had he been, he never would have considered lunging forward, slamming the flat side of his shield into his opponent. Someone else was in control, yet he didn't feel alarmed by it. It was as if he had full confidence in what ever was controlling his actions and knew he would come out of this alright._

_As the _Lamia _leader stumbled back, Gohan felt his body leap forward again, swinging his sword down from at a diagonal angle. This time, the leader used his own smaller shield to block the blow, the clanging of the two metals ringing out. Immediately, Gohan turned his sword to a side, the flat side resting against the shield. This was done so that he could close in on his foe, his shoulder pushing against the shield as the _Lamia _leader tried to push him back, ending with the two of them in a stalemate._

_Because of this, the leader turned his body to a side that he could put more of his focus on pushing Gohan off, putting his sword arm out of reach for the moment. Gohan felt a smirk appear on his face as he suddenly jumped backwards, keeping his sword on his opposite side as the _Lamia _leader stumbled forward surprised, his shield arm dropping downwards as his sword arm flailed in the air behind him._

_With such a wide opening, Gohan swung his sword from side to side, the blade cleanly removing the leader's head from his shoulders, a torrent of blood erupting from his neck. The head flew through the air, landing somewhere on the steps of the temple and bouncing around on them until it reached the bottom step._

_With a quick glance around him, the young man noticed that many of the vampires were dead as well, the men in his group making quick work out of them. There were a couple of casualties yes, but the battle had overwhelmingly gone to his side. Yet he was still puzzled. These were vampires, right? There was no way a simple sword could slay them like this._

_It was then he noticed marking on his sword. Despite the blood that coated the metal surface, he could make out letters engraved in it, spelling out "_Beatus ille gladius Domini populum tueri_." A blessed sword. That would explain things._

_Looking around for any others, Gohan soon found the last remaining vampire, the young one called Slaba. He held his sword out in front of him with both hands, the blade shaking from his trembling arms. His formerly dead-looking eyes held a terrible amount fear as he realized he was largely outnumbered. Looking at Gohan and his slowly advancing men, he then spun around and ran off down the street, a couple of Gohan's men giving chase. Gohan, on the other hand, just relaxed himself, the same with the remaining men before they went about shifting through the dead, removing the bodies of their comrades and piling the enemy elsewhere._

_The man that had spoken from before stood next to him. "The day is ours," he said, a feral look on his face._

"_Indeed," Gohan replied. "But we must move the artifact once more. It is not safe now that the _Lamia_ knows it is here."_

"_You are correct, Dominus Helsing. But what if the _Lamia_ convinces the Wisigothi to hunt us down in order to obtain the artifact? We are but a small unit and they are a large army. We cannot hope to defeat them in armed combat."_

_Gohan shook his head. "The Wisigothi are of little concern. They will burn and pillage the city to their hearts' content. In the meantime, we must escape this city while we have the opportunity. We cannot allow the artifact to fall into enemy hands." Closing his eyes, he took a moment to consider their next move._

* * *

><p>When he opened them, Gohan was lying on his bed, the room bathed in darkness save for the faint glow of light pouring in from his window. As sad as he was to admit this, he was getting used to dreaming the lives of the men he followed.<p>

It always amazed him how long this war with the vampires had been going on. It seemed as if it had stared since time had begun; not exactly a happy thought. Although the long line of Van Helsings stretched far into the past, there hadn't always been one to stand against the tide of living dead. Though he didn't know when the first one appeared, he at least knew for certain there had been one at the sacking of an ancient city, which one he had no clue, but it was the earliest indication his dreams had informed him.

That wasn't to say his dreams were always about his predecessors, but it was common enough to have a dream that suddenly veered off into the middle of a battle, though by now Gohan had stopped waking up in a cold sweat over them.

Looking over to his alarm clock, he noticed it was just after two in the morning. Not up to going back to sleep, the young man rose from his bed, ignoring the protestations from his slightly sore body, and left his room, heading towards the kitchen. A late night snack was beckoning him and who was he to ignore its siren call?

Tonight's snack turned out to be a sandwich. It hadn't been a conscious decision, but his body seemed in the mood for it as it had pulled out various sandwich meats, bread, and condiments. Sitting at the kitchen table, he munched on the snack, turning his mind back to several issues he had.

The first of which was that succubus. His research had come up with basically nothing on how to get rid of the demon. There were plenty of guesses and an interesting tidbit dealing with a mirror, but for the most part he was still at square one concerning how to get rid of them. As for why one was targeting a vampire, that one had been simpler. Since a succubus fed on life energies, the greatest source of those energies usually involved blood. And since vampires fed off of blood, they were consistent sources of it, especially after they had drained someone else of their own blood. Though they didn't make their own blood, it was fairly easy for them to obtain it. Add to the fact that they were immortal and a succubus needn't hunt any one else so long as that vampire constantly replenished his reserves. Like a remora attaching itself to a shark.

Taking another bite of his sandwich, Gohan's mind then drifted back to the night on the club rooftop. After interrogating and disposing of the Krillen fellow, he had simply left all the bodies on the roof. The sun would do away with the vampires, leaving no trace of them. The succubus, on the other hand, he had no clue. It was quite possible that she was still up there. It was also possible that she had left some time after he did. Assuming that she wasn't dead, could she have followed him to this place? Or had she just shrugged her shoulders and went to find someone else to hunt? He had taken a chance with leaving her there, one was beginning to think he shouldn't have. Some time in the morning, he would just have to go check.

Another bite and another topic popped into his head. He knew that Videl was at that mansion the vampires loved to flock to. He even knew the exact location of it if he were honest—after all, when a large group of people dressed in clothes best suited for the Victorian era flocked to a building when it wasn't Halloween, it raised all sorts of red flags. What he didn't know though, was how she was doing there. She had made it perfectly clear that she hadn't wanted to go back there, but she never gave him a solid reason as to why. Having had a couple days to stew on that, he was beginning to wonder if it had been a good idea to send her there. Vampires were an arrogant sort, never afraid to step on someone else's foot unless that foot could cut them in half. Videl's reaction to the idea of her going to that mansion suggested that she had stepped on such feet.

It made him wonder what she did.

* * *

><p>The large mansion doors swung open, creaking loudly as the hinges protested. For all of mankind's advances, why the heck vampires couldn't figure out how to keep door hinges well oiled was beyond Videl. Either it was incompetence or laziness, she couldn't decide which.<p>

Beyond the doors was a lavishly decorated lobby. It was quite large, allowing for several different sitting areas, much like one would find in a hotel. The only difference between a hotel and here was that the furniture was that no hotel could possibly dream to replicate this place. The room was filled covered with lush, rich carpets, custom-made chairs, sofas, and tables, a roaring fireplace, and golden chandeliers that would have blinded any mortal that gazed at it for too long.

Seated primly in the chairs and sofas were vampires in various dresses and suits, most of them reaching far back into Victorian times. It was a little odd considering she came in wearing more modern clothes: specifically slacks and a t-shirt. Let it not be said that she cared a wit what these mansion-dwellers thought of her.

One of the male vampires immediately caught sight of her from a nearby sitting area, standing up and striding over to her arrogantly. Everything from his colonial suit and powdered wig spoke in volumes his vanity. "Look who decided to crawl back home," the man said snidely. "Have you finished trying to make your way in the world, or have you come back to beg for more funds?"

"No," Videl responded automatically.

"No? No what?" he asked, puzzled by her answer.

"To either choice. I would have thought your brain would have finally developed since I was last here, but apparently I was wrong."

A look of indignation covered the man's face, causing Videl to smirk. Ahh, she had almost forgotten what it felt like to get under this guy's skin. He was so easily riled up. She didn't remember what his name was, but she did remember making him look like an idiot, which wasn't all that hard to do. "Then why have you come, wench?" he demanded.

Videl shrugged her shoulders, ignoring the wench name. For now. When it came to insults, this guy wasn't all that creative. "What's it to you? I don't see how it's any of your business."

At this, the man's chest puffed up arrogantly. "Actually, all things that come into this house are my business. I am now the right hand man of Duşman al Tuturor and no one dares to cross Tuturor."

Videl cocked an eyebrow. "Right hand you say? You know, it has been awhile since I was in the mansion, but if I remember right, all of Tuturor's right hand men had bad job security. I could have sworn that he had a new one every week. Don't be afraid to correct me if I'm wrong."

If it wasn't for the fact the man was already pale, Videl would've enjoyed seeing the color drain from his face. Patting him on his shoulder, she then said "You may want to reconsider your career choice. I'll just leave you to your musings." Walking pass him, a large smirk graced her lips. That had felt very good.

"It seems you haven't lost your touch, Satan," a new voice spoke up then. "But then, one does not need a sharp wit to fight against the witless imbecile Tâmpit." So Tâmpit was his name. Well, she would just have to forget his name again.

Turning to face the new voice, she recognized him and his name. "Suferinţă," she greeted, nodding her head. Unlike Tâm…what ever his name was, Suferinţă was dressed in a dark business suit, carrying himself confidently. "Though I must agree with Tâmpit, it is a surprise to see you after your last visit."

"I thought it was time to check in with the higher ups," Videl responded. "With all the plots and intrigue that goes around here, I felt it was best to touch base and make sure no one was planning on starting a civil war or something."

Suferinţă cocked an eyebrow. "And you would care why? Considering how you left the mansion the last time, I would have thought you would be in ecstasy over a vampire civil war. You said as much before you slammed the door behind you."

Well, she had said more than that. She had gone out of her way to specifically insult each and every vampire here by name, said a few other things that weren't anyone's business, _and then_ said she had mentioned hoping a civil war would happen so that she could watch them all die. There was more to the story than that, but those last minutes at the mansion had been enjoyable to her.

And this was the biggest reason why she hadn't wanted to come back. Vampires had a long memory and something said in passing a century ago could be brought back and shoved in your face if someone felt they could obtain an advantage with it. Throwing around insults just happened to be something a vampire took personally and held onto, no matter how trivial the insult. Though her leaving was relatively recent compared to a century, it wasn't going to fade away for quite some time, if at all. Just one more thing she would have to bitch at Gohan for if she saw him again.

Yes, she really did mean _if_.

"Oh I really would enjoy a bunch of you people killing each other," Videl replied, sounding eager. "But seeing as the building isn't covered with blood or starving vampires, I'm afraid to say I'm disappointed."

"I bet you are."

A small grin. "Unfortunately, I can't start such a war right now. It would be stupid of me to do so in the middle of an enemy stronghold, yes? So, instead I'll regretfully go see one of the higher ups and make sure I'm up-to-date with what ever is going on here. Perhaps I can scout out possible infiltration points from which I can launch an attack. After all, most of those that reside in this stuffy place tend to become fat and lazy with their self-importance."

"Still arrogant I see," Suferinţă remarked disdainfully. "One of these days, someone's going to put a stake right through that black heart of yours, sooner than later if you do not watch yourself."

Videl rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Why don't you go back to doing what ever it is you do here. I'm sure it's so much more fascinating than trying to outwit your better."

She was rewarded with a scowl this time. Oh good, it seemed she hadn't lost her knack for pissing people off. Joy. "Be off with you then."

Smirking, Videl slowly walked away from Suferinţă, keeping an eye on him for a few moments before fully turning her attention to her task at hand. Well, to be honest she didn't completely focus on her task. If she had, she would have missed her verbal sparing buddy beginning to follow her, his eyes locked onto her. Pfft, if Suferinţă thought he could tail her, he had another thing coming.

Roaming the corridors of the mansion, Videl made her way to the place where the higher ups stayed, or at least where she last knew them to be. With her tail following her footstep for footstep, she had to at least put up the image of doing as she claimed, that is until he left her alone or she disposed of him. The former would probably be best since she didn't need more raised eyebrows pointed in her direction as she already had.

Ugh, this was really becoming more trouble than it was worth.

* * *

><p>Alright, very long Author's notes ahead. Just wanted to give y'all a heads up.<p>

When I was brainstorming for this story, the ideas of how vampires popped into my head. I had thought it interesting that they would have different ways of dreaming, mainly that all they would see were their memories, rather than what their subconscious would make up. Then my favorite idea tester suggested I should do something similar with Gohan, though his memory dreams follow a typical random dream format. How does a person go from one place to another in a dream? You just kinda do and anything thought of how you got there is swept aside for what's occurring. Maybe I could have done a better transition between the apartment and that burning city, but I'm happy with the way it came out.

And that leads me to another note. I have a pet peeve about basing a story in—for a lack of better wording—our world. DBZ, for instance, doesn't exist on Earth as we know it, just a planet with the same name. So when I see fics with mentionings of Japan and other various countries and cities, it annoys me. And despite this, I actually began putting in little snippets of our world into this story. Go figure. So with a little tweaking, I've changed the placing of this story to the point that you could argue that it could be in our world, but leave enough room for it to be another world altogether.

Finally, the research Gohan has done on succubuses is the actual research I did when trying to kill them. There was seriously nothing about how to get rid of one of those things. It wasn't until I was checking out the comments section of one site where someone asked the question on how to kill a succubus that I came up with the method Gohan used. One of the comment posts had actually said to come up with their own way of killing a succubus and I went with it. Thus Gohan speaks words to cast the succubus away and slays her physical form by snapping her neck. It was the best I could come up with, so forgive me if you had other ideas on how to kill them.


	5. Chapter 5

The apartment was dark when she returned. Her return to the mansion had lasted longer than she had intended, even though her intent was to never go pass the front door. The things she did for her partner.

Absently, Videl turned on the main room light, her eyes quickly adjusting to it a moment later. Grumpily, she moved into the kitchen, opening the fridge door and grabbing the first thing her hand found. It turned out to be a ketchup bottle, so she put it back in, resuming her search into she found something drinkable. That turned out to be a beer bottle, but she wasn't being picky. Twisting the top off, she chugged the bottled until she felt she had enough. Glumly, she walked into the main room, closing the blinds and curtains in front of the windows before she plopped herself on the couch.

Apparently she had been noisy during all this cause Gohan appeared a few moments later, looking towards her as if he had just woken up. He probably had after all. The only time he stayed up late was when he was going out on the hunt, most of the time preferring to go to bed at a normal mortal time.

After staring at her for a bit, the young man then walked towards her, sitting on the opposite side of the couch and staring at the blank TV in front of them. Taking a sip from her bottle, Videl decided to enjoy the silence for the moment. She knew she would have to tell him what she found out eventually, but at the moment she wasn't up to doing it. It wasn't that she was drained from her spying—though for the record, yes she was drained from spying—she just usually felt this way when she did something she didn't like doing.

For some reason, that had become a more common occurrence since she met Gohan.

When her bottle was empty, she finally turned her head towards her roomie. "I couldn't find out much about this Suveran guy, except he's an up-and-coming. Crane on the other hand is pretty much the same kind of guy Krillen was. A middle man between someone important and a bunch of cronies, except he has more say in his operations. From what I understand, Crane's just been given an assignment and will be leaving the mansion in a few days."

"So then we focus on Crane," Gohan summed up, that serious tone he always used when they discussed "business" laced in his voice. "What exactly is he up to?"

"Something bigger than most people are willing to admit," Videl replied. "All anyone would say is that he was shipping some sort of cargo from one place to another. Not exactly an assignment someone of his status would handle, but the impression I got was that it was really important."

"Is this normal for vampires?"

"Normal in what way?"

"Do you usually have distinguished vampires handling crony jobs? I would have thought such things were beneath some of you."

Videl rolled her eyes. "Only when we want to keep something very quiet. There's some plot going on with the higher-ups. Pretty much no one knows about this thing, particularly anyone who is lower than someone of Krillen's rank, and even some of the guys of that rank have never head of it."

Gohan cocked an eyebrow. "I got the impression that Krillen wasn't that high on the food chain. Or at least that's what he told me."

"Well, compared to Crane, he's not. Crane was vying to be the head of the Soare Clan Mansion at one point."

"Soare Clan Mansion?"

Another eye roll was directed at the young man. "That's the name of the local mansion here, or at least the last one I went to. I've been in a few more, depending on where I wanted to stay. Soare Clan was the one I was in before I decided I had enough of mansion life and went out on my own. By the way, I want you to know I hate you for sending me back and I will gut you like a roasted pig when we're done with each other."

A smirk covered Gohan's face, the bastard. "The day you gut me is the day you don't need me saving your hide."

"One time, you only saved me _one_ time. In case you haven't noticed I can take care of myself."

"Considering the mess that is your room, I can tell you I'm impressed by that accomplishment."

"Oh yeah? Well it was nothing compared to what your last apartment looked like!"

"Coincidentally, you were the one that caused that mess."

"I did not! You were the one trying to kill me! I had no choice but to fight back!"

"And if you had died like I intended, there wouldn't have been a mess."

"Do you want me to tell you about Crane or not?" Videl growled, scowling at Gohan.

The good humor Gohan seemed to be in lingered for several moments before slowly disappearing into seriousness. "What else is there?"

"In two days Crane will be at the Seaside Docks, in one of the warehouses. That's where he's supposed to pick up the cargo and transport it."

"Where's he supposed to take it?"

"A safe house somewhere in town." At this Videl frowned. "I got the impression that it wasn't suppose to be anywhere near Soare Clan though. I think they want to stash it on the other side of town, but I'm not positive about it."

"So the warehouse is the best place to meet them. Maybe even tail them to the safe house." Gohan became lost in thought. "I think I'm going to need you on this one."

Videl blinked at that. It wasn't often Gohan asked her to tag along on his hunts, mostly so that she wasn't in anyway implicated with him, which worked for her. What she was doing was considered treason and the punishment for that was not very pleasant. "What do you need me for?"

"I want to know what that cargo is. If it's important, it would be best we know where they're taking it. I rather not be caught off guard by some mysterious package."

Videl nodded her head. "Alright then." Then a thought occurred to her. "Are you going to attack these guys? That might not be a good idea since it could put suspicion on us."

Gohan looked to her. "Because of your sudden return to the mansion and curious questions?"

"Well, more like my return rather than the questions. I know I stirred up the house the moment I set foot in there. They probably already think I'm up to something, but not exactly what. If you attack these guys, that might lead them right to us."

Gohan nodded his head in understanding. He was quiet for a few moments, thinking out this new predicament. "When you were there, did you hear anything about Krillen?"

"Only that he was missing, assumed dead."

"And what of me?"

"What about you?"

This time it was Gohan's turn to roll his eyes. "I'm sure there's usually some word about a vampire hunter roaming about. So that everyone knows to be careful or something."

"Not really," Videl shrugged her shoulders. "An occasional death here and there doesn't really catch the mansion-dwellers' attention. Considering you haven't gone on some berserker-raged killing spree, you haven't even appeared on any of their radars. If there is one question any vampire will ask and not raise any suspicion, it will always be about some vampire hunter in the area, even if there isn't one around, and believe me I asked."

"And did any of your questions at the mansion arouse any suspicion?"

"I didn't exactly go up to someone and asked them for everything they know," Videl replied sarcastically. "It would be stupid to do that and rise up too much suspicion. All I did was sit close to a bunch of drunks and let them brag to each other about their importance to each other. That's where I heard about Crane's thing and Krillen's disappearance."

Gohan's eyebrow rose again. "And what about Suveran? I doubt you just listened for someone to mention his name."

"No, he I had to ask someone about. I went to the help for that. There were new people there, so none of them recognized me. You won't believe how much gossip those people can talk about, ugh. I had to pretend to care about some affair one blow-hard was having with five different women and how much pain he was going to be in when they found out."

"And they didn't know anything about Suveran?"

"Just that he appeared in the Soare Clan Mansion in the last few months and that he's climbed fairly high quickly. At the rate he's going, he could become the head of Soare by summertime."

"How important is being the head of a mansion?" Gohan asked curiously.

"Well, each mansion head has power over a specific territory," she explained. "Like a mini-kingdom I guess. From there, a head can be promoted to a _Regiunea_ _Riglă_, which gives them control over all mansions in their specified region, followed by a _Ţară Riglă_, which usually covers a country, depending on how big that country is. Only a _Ţară Riglă_ can become _Roza Vânturilor_—basically that's the equivalent of what your mortal church would call a Cardinal. Only a _Roza Vânturilor_ can be accepted into the Council of Shadows."

Gohan was leaning towards her, his face full of curiosity. He only ever got this way when he truly wanted to learn something and it appeared that he knew little of Vampire Society, well anything that she hadn't already told him. Videl supposed that he didn't really need to since his job was to kill every vampire he came across regardless of rank. It was probably simpler that way.

"It seems pretty muddled the lower you go," Gohan commented after a few moments.

Videl shrugged. "It's like any mortal hierarchy. Someone always needs to feel important so they create redundant titles. Not surprising since most vampires used to be mortal. Perhaps they're trying to compensate for something."

An amused look appeared on the young man's face. "And I suppose you tried your hand at becoming ranked."

"After the novelty of living in splendor wore off," she admitted. "But most promotions, if you can call it that, are mostly based on luck. Either you were a part of something big that got you noticed or you just happened to be in the right place at the right time and were awarded full credit. At least that's what it seemed like to me when I gave a damn about it. As of right now, I am unranked and I couldn't be happier."

A snort was his response. "I suppose you aren't losing sleep over it." Shaking his head now, he then brought them back to the point of this discussion. "Since we can't make this look like you're involved, we're going to have to throw them off your scent."

This time it was Videl's turn to cock an eyebrow. "And how do you propose to do that?"

"By putting them on my scent."

Videl looked at him strangely. What would putting the vampires' attention on Gohan do to change their minds about her? "I don't see what that could do to help the situation."

"Suppose Crane is doing his job and right in the middle of it, he gets attacked by a vampire hunter," Gohan began to explain. "It's doubtful these guys would think I just spotted them going there and followed them in. The only plausible explanation was that I was tipped off in some form or fashion."

"Yeah, and after tonight everyone will think it's me," Videl added. "Which is the truth. Only an idiot would think otherwise."

"But not if I make them think I got the tip from someone else," Gohan countered. "Someone like the late Nostramos Krillen."

A light went off inside Videl's head. "That would explain Krillen's mysterious disappearance and the reason why you're at the docks that night. They'd just think you interrogated the information out of him." Then another thought popped into her head, causing her to frown. "But what if Krillen didn't know about the job? Then they'd definitely know someone tipped you off and suspicion falls right back onto me."

"I'll just keep it simple. Crane. Seaside Docks. Tonight. Any idiot could figure out something was going on from that."

"It still seems shaky," Videl muttered.

"It's all we have to work on for the moment," Gohan shrugged in return. "We have two days to figure out a better story. If you want something better, I suggest you put some thought into it." Standing up, the young man stretched his arms out, letting out a groan. "I guess I should try to get a couple more hours of sleep. Can't be late for work."

"Whatever," Videl said as she leaned into the couch. She still had some time before sunrise, so she'd take advantage of it. Not to go back out, mind you, but to improve on this ill-conceived idea of theirs. She wasn't too comfortable with their current plan.

As Gohan moved towards his room, he suddenly turned back to her and said "By the way, you were right about that woman, the one with Krillen. She wasn't human."

"I had a feeling," she replied with a shrug. Really, she didn't care for this sort of thing. But every time Gohan came across some unknown creature, he always had to tell her what it was. "I'm guessing she was a vampire or something."

"Succubus actually."

Videl paused. A succubus? What an odd creature to come across. It was unusual to find one interested in a vampire, but considering their methods of feeding, there was probably some sort of relation way back in their collective pasts. Though as she understood it, they were harder to kill and sunlight didn't seem to bother them.

Maybe she was making a connection where there wasn't one.

"Well, I hope you got rid of it. I hear they're not the most forgiving people if you try to kill them."

Gohan snorted at that. "You could say that about most people."

"It's your choice if you want some demon following you. I would think that someone of your profession tried to minimize such things."

"You're right. Yet I'm about to alert an entire city's worth of vampires to my existence. I'm not exactly following protocol by doing that."

"Your death, I guess."

A small smile appeared on Gohan's face. "There are worse things than death. I might actually get to relax when I do die, depending on what kills me of course. Knowing my luck, I'll have a vampire turn me right before I die." Then he smirked. "And I know who I'd like to annoy when that happens."

Videl rolled her eyes. "Oh, woe would be me if you were to suddenly be pale and blood-thirsty. Not only would I have to deal with you in life, but after death. I just can't seem to escape you."

She only heard a chuckle in response, followed by the closing of his bedroom door.


	6. Chapter 6

The docks were bathed in moonlight, giving it a ghostly appearance. The sea that washed against the cement edge of the harbor was a solid black color, almost like ink. Large metal shipping crates, thick ropes and nets, and an inordinate amount of trash littered the place, sandwiched between rusted ships and graffiti-covered warehouses. This provided excellent cover for Gohan and Videl as they silently crept through the mess. There was an occasional lamp post that gave off weak lighting, but for the most part, it was like wandering around in the dark without a flashlight.

It was times like these that Videl liked her night-vision her vampire blood gave her.

Gohan seemed to not be having a problem too, something that the dark-haired girl found strange. She had seen many a mortal stumble around blindly when encountered with total darkness. She had many a good laugh at their useless groping as they searched for some source of light. How Gohan moved as he did was beyond her, but she had a sneaky suspicion he had some night-vision goggles on his person despite the lack of them on his face. Unless they came in contact form, which she highly doubted they did, he was doing a very good job of keeping them hidden.

However, neither one of them was searching randomly here. They knew exactly where they were going, thanks to a quick scouting mission Gohan had done earlier. Out of all the warehouses, only one of them looked as if someone gave a damn about it. There was graffiti on it, but there was a distinct absence of rust on it, not to mention that most of the lights surrounding it were of better quality than the rest on the docks. It practically screamed something was going on there.

That and one of the doors was wide opened with a truck sitting right next to it. That also helped narrow down their options.

Standing by the wide open warehouse entrance were a couple of men, pale, well-groomed, and wearing clothes slightly more expensive than a normal waterfront worker. That is to say, they were more interested in wearing suits rather than overalls. Way to be inconspicuous, guys.

Kneeling behind some wooden crates and a mess of fish netting that hung from a tall, leaning pipe, Gohan and Videl surveyed the sight. After a moment, Gohan whispered to her "Think you can get into that building and find out what they're doing in there?"

Videl nodded her head. "Not a problem." She looked to her partner, eyeing his unglamorous outfit. Seriously, could he not dress in something that would at least make him look intimidating? His image didn't exactly scream "Fear me." Considering that he was about to declare all-out war on every vampire in the city—not that he hadn't done that already—but his decision for a first impression left something to be desired.

"Don't say a word about my clothes," Gohan then spoke up, causing her to jump in surprise.

"How did—"

"You've been glaring at my jacket ever since we got out here. I'm rather fond of this jacket."

Glaring? Oh, she'd show _him_ glaring. Focusing her glowering eyes on his face, all she got back in response was a cocked eyebrow. "Hey, I don't see you wearing tight leather."

"That's because it's ridiculous," Videl shot back. "Why the heck would I wear something as restraining as that on a covert mission? I'd squeak every time I moved an inch!"

"And you think I should wear that dark trench coat because I'd look cooler or something? I might as well put a target on my back."

"At least you wouldn't look as dorky as you do now. I mean seriously, there's no one here that would think you're a threat and I'm pretty sure all you hunter guys like to get that impression across."

Gohan began rubbing his forehead. "Can you just get into the warehouse? This isn't the time to be talking about my fashion sense."

"What fashion sense?"

A glare was his only response to that, which Videl took as a victory in her favor. But he was right, there were more important things to worry about at the moment. "And what are you going to do? You gonna be some kind of distraction or something?"

"Something like that."

"What ever. Just don't do anything stupid alright?" Upon seeing Gohan nod, Videl took off, heading towards the side of the warehouse. She had a job to do.

* * *

><p>Gohan snuck closer to the warehouse door, keeping to the shadows while keeping his eye on the men at the door. With his most trusted weapon in one hand and a rag in the other, he positioned himself carefully. Standing next to a metal barrel, he grabbed the edge of its lidless top with the hand holding the rag. With a tug, he tipped it over and let it clatter to the ground, taking several steps away from it and disappearing into the darkness around.<p>

He faintly heard one of the vampire men ask what the sound was before ordering someone to go investigate it. Steeling himself, Gohan wanted until a vampire showed up, his hands wrapped tightly around a sub-machine gun. Looking around, the vampire noticed the topless barrel rolling on the ground. With the toe of his expensive-looking shoe, he stopped it's moving, staring at it questioningly before giving another cursory look around the place. Once Gohan saw him visibly relax his posture, he struck fast, coming up from behind him. Bringing one of his hands in front of the vampire, he covered the man's mouth with the rag, pushing it into his mouth as the man began to yelp in surprise, muffling his voice. With a thrust from his other hand, he impaled the vampire on his stake, quickly removing it. Letting the man's body drop, Gohan picked up his gun and disappeared back into the shadows, moving closer towards the door.

Eyeing two of the vampire guards there, Gohan took a quick look at the bullets in the machine gun, giving a look of disdain as he found normal rounds in it. Although vampires claimed to be superior to humans in every way, that didn't seem to mind lowering themselves to using human devices. Then again, vampires weren't normally that creative when they wanted to kill someone. Perhaps that was a pro to hunting them.

Shoving the cartridge back into the gun, hearing it clicking into place, Gohan took aim and began firing a barrage of bullets at the guards. Although they were of the undead, even they couldn't completely suppress the very human reaction of seeking cover when attacked. Emptying the gun, Gohan immediately dropped it and sought refuge between a couple of wooden crates as the vampires returned fire. That was okay though, all Gohan had to do was wait patiently for them to run out of bullets and come looking to see if they hit anything.

He didn't have to wait long as the loud gunshots fell silent, followed by hurried footsteps. Just as his prey came into sight, Gohan pulled out a small bottle with a nozzle attached to the top. The letters MACE ran across it side in large, bolded print. Taking a quick step forward, Gohan pressed the small button on top of the bottle, spraying the closest vampire in the eyes and causing him to scream in pain. And before you ask, this was normal mace. Not garlic spray, not garlic flavored, just regular old mace. Eyeballs were eyeballs after all.

As the first vampire fell to his knees, clutching his eyes painfully, Gohan easily sidestepped him and shot towards the second vampire. However, this one had his gun reloaded and its barrel rising to aim right at him. Reacting fast, Gohan dropped the mace bottle and shot his hand out, grabbing the gun just under the barrel and forcing it up into the air, just in time for the guard to pull the trigger and begin firing wildly into the air. Gohan gritted his teeth as he felt the gun scorch with heat, searing the palm of his hand as pain ran up and down his arm. Doing his best to ignore it—though he couldn't help let out a grunt of pain—he darted in closer to his opponent, thrusting his trust stake at him.

However, the vampire had reacted just as Gohan had, shooting his hand out and grabbing Gohan by his forearm, just under his wrist. This effectively stopped the thrust, putting the two into a stalemate.

The stalemate didn't last for long though as Gohan dropped the stake and switched his grip to the vampire's arm. Pulling the vampire to a side, Gohan swung him through the air and slammed him into the side of one of the wooden crates, causing the man to break into it, but not completely disappear into it. With another pull, Gohan removed the vampire from the crate and swung him again, this time lifting him clear off the ground before angling him into it, the wooden planks of the dock snapping loudly as they splintered and broke. With the vampire dazed from the swings, Gohan released his hold on the vampire and his gun, immediately grabbing onto a jagged board of the broken crate and tearing it off. Turning back he held the board up, the jagged part pointing down drove it down, impaling the defenseless vampire as he gave out a cry of pain before falling silent.

That was probably a bad time to try and catch his breath as Gohan soon felt a fist ramming itself into his face, sending him stumbling away. Looking up, he saw the first vampire back on his feet, his eyes bloodshot, and his arms swinging wildly. Apparently his vision was hampered by the mace as he seemed to be guessing where Gohan was. Seeing him standing next to his dead friend, an idea popped into the young hunter's head, one he immediately put into action as he calmly approached the half-blinded vampire. Apparently the guard could still pick up movement as he immediately focused right on Gohan and made to attack him. Swinging his left fist, Gohan caught it at the wrist and stopped it in its tracks, a searing pain reminding the young man of the burn there. Ignoring it as best he could, Gohan shot out his other hand and shoved it right where the head ended and the neck began, a couple of his fingers hooking around the vampire's chin. Grunting as he poured out his strength, Gohan lifted the vampire right off the ground, twisting him to a side before driving him down on top of his buddy and subsequently the other end of the broken board. With a gasp, the vampire shot out some blood from his mouth before his red eyes glazed over. There, now he had the beginnings of a vampire shish kabob. All he needed now was a longer board and a few more vampires and he could make something a lot more impressive-looking.

Taking a quick look around, Gohan determined that he was alone for the moment and started calming his body down. His breathing was rushed, more than he would like to admit, and the burn on his hand was really making its presence known. Those last two vampires had proven more difficult to kill than he expected.

Just as he was feeling his breathing calming down, he heard a loud, aged voice demand "Who's out there? Show yourself! I know you are out there!"

Moving towards the warehouse doorway, Gohan took a peek around his current hiding place, seeing an old man in a lavish suit. Even from here the young man could see it cost a fortune. A weird-looking hat that was shaped in the form of a bird sat on his head, puffs of white hair sticking out from under it.

So that must be Crane.

"Well? I'm waiting!" Crane called out again, his dark sunglasses surveying the area. Growling, he then turned his attention to his men and ordered "Search the area. I want our intruder found and preferably dead."

Slipping further out of sight, Gohan began weighing his options. It would be best if he kept Crane's men closer together and the best way to do that was to get their attention immediately. If they spread out, it would make it quite difficult to keep them located and he didn't want to have them surrounding him. Feeling something bump the heel of his foot, Gohan looked down and found his stake. Picking it up, Gohan prepped himself for his big coming-out. Something his entire being was railing against.

Crouching, Gohan launched himself into the air, leaping high until he landed on top of the wooden crate he had been hiding behind. Putting a smirk on his face, he called out to the vampires "Looking for me?"

* * *

><p>Videl had just found her way into the warehouse when she heard gunfire. Glancing towards the front of the building, she had to wonder what exactly Gohan was doing when he said he would cause a distraction. Obviously it required something that needed guns to be fired. Keeping to the shadows of the building that was filled with most of the stuff lying outside on the docks, the young woman turned her sights to the building's other occupants.<p>

Immediately she caught sight of Crane. He wasn't all that hard to spot considering that stupid bird hat he liked to wear. When she first had entered the building, she had heard him barking orders with rarely a moment of silence between each order. He sounded nervous, very nervous, and he didn't want anything wrong to go on with this job of his. It made Videl wonder what exactly was so important with this shipment.

Well, her job was supposed to find that out.

Waiting, she watched as Crane and his men began hurrying over to the front of the warehouse, leaving a couple of men to continue their work at an open shipping crate. From what she could see, the men were removing boxes from the crate and setting them inside wooden crates. Why they didn't simply have those boxes stored in wooden crates when they first loaded them, Videl had no clue, but one couldn't say that vampires were the most logical sort of people.

Creeping her way to the wooden crates, she waited for both men to be occupied at the shipping crate before she investigated the unknown packages. Reaching into one of the crates, she picked up one of the boxes and fled back into the shadows. Making sure she hadn't been seen, she carefully made her way back out of the warehouse from whence she entered. Upon reaching the outside, she heard loud voices, but couldn't quite pick up what was being said. Didn't matter, she had to make her getaway right now. Gohan could take care of himself, so she would just make her way to the car, wait a bit for her partner-in-crime to appear, and regardless if he showed up, take off back to the apartment.

Still, she couldn't help but wonder how things were going on Gohan's end.

* * *

><p>"Who the devil are you?" Crane demanded as he stared at the young man in question. Gohan did his best to look confident, after all first impressions were important. He needed to show these guys that he was quite serious.<p>

"I don't give my name to dead men," he answered, leveling a calm look at the older-looking man. "Especially to ones that shouldn't still be walking."

Crane's men aimed their guns at him, making a nervous feeling crawl its way up through his body. Maybe making jabs at their less than living presences wasn't a good idea, but it definitely assured him their full attention. "And what would you know about a thing like that?" Crane asked.

"Other than your pale skin and a grin with pointy teeth, I can smell the scent of rotting bodies coming off of you. Which reminds me, could you stand downwind? I rather not have to smell your body odor while we're killing each other."

Crane stared at him for awhile before something clicked in his head. "Oh, I see. You're a vampire hunter, and a new one at that." A collective sneer covered the faces of the other vampires, though Gohan paid no heed to that. He had gotten that look quite a bit when he had first started, though seeing their following looks of surprise as he killed them made up for it. You could say he was immune to such looks. "I must ask, how ever did you find us out here?"

"Very simple, I followed you out here," Gohan stated. "It wasn't too hard since fancy sports cars normally don't drive around dank, dark shipping docks."

Crane gave a dark look to his men, which was followed by a couple of them looking quite guilty. Gohan couldn't help the smirk that appeared on his face. Always trust a vampire to do something dumb like driving an expensive car to a crappy part of town. For all of their sophistication, they were a rather dumb bunch. "I suppose even a rookie hunter could figure out something that obvious," Crane allowed. "And now you believe you can just kill us and be on your way? Is that what you are thinking?"

"Something like that."

"Then I would hate to disappoint. It would seem you've come for a fight and it would be very wrong of me to deny you that. Men, go have some fun."

Immediately, Gohan dropped off behind his the crate he was standing on, just in time for a hail of bullets to rip through wood. Hurrying away from the gunfire, Gohan made to turn a corner by a shipping crate when he took notice of a couple of sealed barrels, one of which had the words OIL spray painted onto it. Knocking the supposed oil drum onto its side, Gohan quickly rolled it away, trying to put some distance between him and the vampires, who he could hear starting to approach his previous hiding place.

Once he felt safe for a few moments, he quickly righted the drum and opened it, getting caught with a nose full of noxious fumes. Oh yeah, that was definitely oil. Very promising. Pushing the barrel onto its side again, the oil began pouring out of the drum, spreading out all over the artificial corridor the shipping containers created. Once the flow began to lessen, Gohan rose the back end up, allowing for more oil to spill out before he picked up the now empty barrel and leapt onto one of the containers.

And as luck would have it, a couple of vampire guards came wandering right into his little oil mess, walking right into the spill as they searched for him. Looking over the edge, he noticed the two sniffing the air, the faces wrinkling into grimaces. Heaving the drum over his head, Gohan shouted out "Look out below!" before he threw the drum down on top of them.

Immediately, the two vampires reacted by jerking their heads up, pulling the triggers of the guns as they shot a torrent of bullets at him and the oil drum. This proved to be a mistake on their part as their bullets ricocheted off of the drum's metal surface, creating sparks. Sparks that dropped to the oil-covered ground beneath them. An oil-covered ground that immediately went up in flames with them right in the middle of it, screaming without abandon as they were burnt alive.

Unfortunately, Gohan was unable to appreciate his artistry here as a few vampires leapt onto shipping crates a ways down and immediately opened fire. Diving off his container away from the fire as sparks erupted from the gunfire, Gohan raced down the dock as wooden crates, poles, and various shipping equipment burst from bullet impacts. Finally coming to a spot that offered some protection, Gohan paused to catch his breath, bending over as his hands rested on his knees. No wonder vampire hunters preferred sneak attacks; attacking a large number of vampires was insane! What had he gotten himself into? He needed to retreat before he got himself killed.

The sound of heavy footsteps alerted him to someone closing in on him. Reaching into his jacket, Gohan pulled out a bulky, metal rod, cylindrical in shape like a thin can. He didn't use this weapon often, mostly because he considered it a weapon of last resort, and right now he had a feeling it would be of very good use.

A few moments later, a vampire rounded the corner, Gohan slamming the rod into his face and causing the man to give a startled cry of pain. Flicking a small lever, the end furthest from Gohan shot out a very long, very sharp metal end, a dry whooshing sound being made. Its silver surface gleamed in the light, revealing odd engravings on it. Not pausing to admire it, Gohan lunged forward, impaling the vampire with the point. This time the vampire let out a breathless gasp before collapsing to the ground, sliding off the weapon.

Well, that definitely answered a question Gohan had long since wondered. He had heard of vampires having a weakness to silver, but had never really put it to the test. Well, it could have easily been the engravings making it blessed too, but he was ignoring that point for the time being. While he preferred the tried-and-true wooden stake, he hadn't gotten around to finding out whether that silver rumor was true or not until now. The weight was more than he was used to, but at least he knew it would work. So far, he had only used it to kill a couple of werewolves, one of which had an inclination to being shirtless when he was in human form. Had a weird name too. Jay Cob or something like that.

Bringing himself back to more important matters, two more vampire guards were closing in on him, oddly enough not bothering using their guns from long distance. It seemed they wanted a more in close and personal fight.

Gohan would give them exactly what they wanted.

* * *

><p>Videl had reached the apartment. Gohan hadn't shown up and she didn't want to risk being identified close to all the excitement that was occurring on the docks. She was sure Gohan would find his way back. Pretty sure. Hopefully.<p>

But right now there was something else she needed to do, like take a look at what she had stolen from that wooden crate. The brown, cardboard box sat on the kitchen table, looking very ordinary to her, though that was probably what the people who wanted it to look like. Why bother with something ordinary when something flashier would divert all attention?

Finding a pair of scissors, she used one of the ends slide it down the top of the box, cutting the clear packaging tape sealing it shut. Running it against the sides, she then opened the box, giving a few tough tugs to completely render the tape useless. With the box open, she was greeted with the sight of several white bags, the word CELOX being printed on one side of each bag. There was some other writing on the bag, but none of it stood out to her.

"What the heck is Celox?" she asked out loud, picking up one of the bags as she began to toy with it. From what she could tell, the contents of the bag were some kind of liquid and a thick one at that. It was possibly a gel, though she wouldn't be able to tell that unless she opened one of the bags.

"What the heck is Celox?" a voice suddenly asked from behind her.

Videl let out a high-pitched shriek before whipping around, finding Gohan standing behind her and holding one of the other white bags. "Where the hell did you come from?" she yelled, glaring at him. "You almost gave me a heart attack!"

Gohan cocked an eyebrow at her. "Don't you need to have a heart in order to have a heart attack?"

"Quit acting cute, smartass," she growled before turning around in her chair, looking back at the bag. "And I have no clue what this stuff is." Then another thought occurred to her. "How did your distraction thing go?"

"As good as it could go," he shrugged, focusing on the writing on the bag.

"They didn't suspect us, right? You made sure they thought Krillen told you about tonight."

"Actually, I told them I followed a couple of their guys to the docks. Said I noticed a fancy car was in the wrong part of town."

Videl stared at him disbelievingly. "And that worked?"

"Yep. Several of the guards were embarrassed by that." A small frown covered Gohan's face then. "Crane got away though, so unfortunately that was one thing that didn't go right. He thinks I'm a newbie though, which is some good news at least."

Videl nodded her head. "Well, I got this box from the warehouse, freshly pulled out of a shipping container and being prepped for transportation elsewhere."

"Crap," Gohan spoke, dropping his arm that held the Celox bag. "We were supposed to follow them to their other hideout. I can't believe I forgot about that."

Videl felt her face warm up at that too. They had originally planned to follow the truck to its destination, mostly for reconnaissance. It was always good to know what buildings were the enemy's after all. Reaching out, she grasped his arm and gave him a squeeze. "Don't worry about it. We have other things to worry about. We'll find the place eventually, if it's necessary. Most safe houses aren't vulnerable strike points anyways. We wouldn't really achieve anything even if we knew where it was."

A small smile graced his lips. He didn't say anything to that, just giving her that smile. After a few moments, he then went back to reading the writing on the white bag, announcing his findings soon after that. "It's a coagulant."

Videl frowned. "Isn't that involved with blood? What would they want a blood coagulant for?"

Gohan shrugged. "Beats me. Unless someone is bleeding uncontrollably, they don't really have a need for it."

Staring at it, an idea formed in Videl's head. "Maybe they're planning something—something big. Like a fight. A vampire doesn't make their own blood so if they get hurt, they're not replenishing any blood they lose. It's why we have to drink others' blood. They could use this to stop losing blood during a battle."

"A fight? A war maybe?" Gohan pondered. "We're going to have to keep our eye on this. I know a lot of things vampires do don't make sense to me, but having something that clots blood makes even less sense than usual."

"I have to agree with you there." Videl then let out a growl. "I hate mysteries."

* * *

><p>Alright, I must confess. I stole that silver stake thing from the Van Helsing movie, though with a few additional details. It's just something I liked and wanted to use in the story. Besides, anything that can be used as a jab at a certain book series can't be all that bad lol.<p> 


	7. Chapter 7

This is a chapter I believe a lot of you have wanted to see and have waited patiently for. You'll see what I mean soon enough and I'm sure it'll make many of you happy. Enjoy!

* * *

><p>"So there's a new vampire hunter?" an amused voice inquired. "That is quite unexpected."<p>

Crane nodded his head slowly, if not fearfully. "And did this hunter impede your mission, Crane?"

"The cargo has been delivered," the old man replied, swallowing as he paused. "We loaded all we could and left as the rest of my men dealt with the vampire hunter. As of right now, I have no idea as to his present condition though a number of my men have been slain."

"So some of the cargo was left behind," the voice concluded. "As long as the specified item was retrieved, then a few leftovers should be harmless. If the hunter is indeed alive, he would never guess our intent. However, it does pain me to not know of his whereabouts. What else do you know of this hunter?"

"He is young. Inexperienced. But he shows potential to be a serious threat," Crane reported, relaxing somewhat. "As you are aware of, most beginning hunters are rarely capable of taking down several vampires."

"Several? How many was he able to dispatch?"

"At last count," here Crane paused to sigh, "Ten able body vampires. I had brought fifteen to speed up the job."

"Ten you say? Then this is no inexperienced hunter. He has experience, but he may be new to the area." A pause. "Perhaps it would be best if we tied off this loose end of yours. Set up a job, I care not what it is. I will be assigning you a counteragent. See that this matter is taken care of, Crane."

Crane bowed lowly before making his exit. Leaving the room, he began to hurry to his quarters. He had a trap to set up.

* * *

><p><em>Butterflies flapped around in her stomach as she rang the doorbell. It had been a long time since she had felt this way. Usually she was so confident, so calm; now she was on the verge of being a wreck and all because she had agreed to meet a guy at his place.<em>

_How in the world had that happened?_

_It had started with that laundry episode of hers. Ever since she had met Vanyel, she found herself enjoying someone else's company, other than the people she ended up feeding on. It had gotten to the point she had started looking forward to running into him. Everything had changed though, when he had asked if she wanted to stop by his place for dinner._

_She had stared at him like an idiot before saying yes._

_Videl had gone out of her way to look nice for this. It was one thing to go to the Laundromat looking like something the cat dragged in, it was another looking that way when going to someone else's house. Was this what people in this day and age do for dates? It had been so long since she had gone on one that moonlit walks were last considered the norm for dates. That and dressing up. Maybe that was some of her old upbringing popping up, she wasn't sure. All she knew was that she wanted to leave the best impression this time. Dressing up just happened to be one of those things that impressed._

_So did not feeding on the person you're trying to impress._

_The door opened a few moments later, Vanyel appearing on the other side and giving her a big smile. "Just in time!" he said. "I'm almost done with the meat. Come on in and make yourself at home."_

_Returning his smile with one of her own, Videl entered the apartment, the door being closed behind her. Vanyel's place wasn't anywhere near the luxury she was accustomed to, but it did have that homely feeling to it. "Take a seat anywhere you want," the young man said as he retreated into the kitchen, returning to what ever task he had previously been up to. Seeing that the best seat to keep her eyes on the guy was at the kitchen table, she sat down in one of the chairs, looking to him as he busied himself._

"_You've got a nice place," she commented, trying to strike up a conversation._

"_Thanks. It's a miracle I even found it," Vanyel replied. "I hope it wasn't too hard of a place to find. I know it's not in the best location."_

"_It was no trouble," Videl waved off. Smelling the air, she almost moaned from the delicious aromas she detected. "I don't know what you're making in there, but it smells great."_

_Almost instantly a plate was set down on the table in front of her, much to her surprise. "I aim to please," Vanyel chuckled as he sat down across from her, his own plate there as well. Time seemed to disappear then as the two of them ate and chatted, Videl feeling more and more at ease as the evening wore on. What they were eating and what they talked about didn't mean anything to her at this point._

_In case you couldn't tell, she was thoroughly enjoying herself._

_Unfortunately, the night decided to take a turn for the worst. It had been so unexpected, she almost missed Vanyel's smiling, friendly face drop to one full of murderous intent. The table was suddenly tossed out from between them and Vanyel had lunged at her, some weapon pointing right at her. She barely managed to get her arms up as he crashed into her, knocking her chair over and causing them to crash to the ground._

_The next thing Videl knew, Vanyel was hovering over her, something sharp in his hand slowly descending upon her despite Videl doing her best to hold it off. With one hand grasping his weapon, his other hand on top of it, the sharp point lowered excruciatingly towards her. Videl had her own hands grasping his forearms, trying to fight it off. A sense of dread filled her stomach as her eyes finally registered what was in his hand._

_A sharp, wooden stake._

_Going on instinct, one of Videl's legs shot up, aiming to slam her knee in his groin. Unfortunately her legs weren't in the best position to do that and she ended up ramming her knee into Vanyel's stomach. Putting as much strength as she could into her leg, she forced Vanyel's lower body up into the air, causing him to flip off of her and land on his back somewhere above her head. Rolling onto her stomach, Videl shot up onto her feet, just in time to see Vanyel back on his own, flipping the stake in his hand._

_Then with a thrust, he drove the stake at her, Videl jumping back to keep some distance between them. Closing in on her, the young man swung his other hand at her, balled into a fist. Blocking that, she found another thrust being aimed at her, this time stopping the strike by thrusting the palm of one of her hands down on top of Vanyel's hand, forcing the wooden point down and nowhere near stabbing her. Jumping to a side, Videl barely missed being cut as Vanyel swung the stake through the air, slicing at her._

_This, however, left her opponent wide open and Videl took complete advantage of it. Closing in, she poured as much of her vampire strength into her arm and slammed her fist into Vanyel's chest, sending him flying away and slamming into the far wall. A loud bang was heard as the sheetrock cracked from the impact, various wall decorations shuddering from their places._

_Okay, what the hell was going on? Why was Vanyel trying to kill her? They had been having a good time hadn't they? And why was he using a wooden stake? Didn't mortals normally use knives? Well, only the ones that weren't vampire hunters any…_

_Videl felt her stomach drop. Oh crap, Vanyel was a vampire hunter. How the hell did she not see this? The entire time he had been hunting, befriending her to get her in a place he could kill her. Anger began to flow through her. That…that bastard! He wouldn't be leaving this room alive!_

_Grabbing a nearby chair, she raised it above her head and threw it at Vanyel, letting out an enraged war cry as she did so. Vanyel recovered faster than she had expected and rolled out of the way as the chair shattered against the wall. Getting back onto his feet, he strode towards her purposefully._

_Then for some reason he threw his stake at her, the point flying right at her at an amazingly high speed. It was easy enough to dodge as her sidestep indicated. Idiot, now he was defenseless. She would just have to show him just how dumb he was as she tore him apart, piece by piece._

_Unfortunately, she somehow wasn't paying attention as well as she thought as she found herself being tackled by Vanyel, the two of them careening into Vanyel's living room area and crashing into his furniture. Videl lost the guy in the mess somehow, but she wasn't going to let him get an advantage on her. Getting back to her feet, she looked around for Vanyel, finding him getting to his feet as well. Snarling, Videl grabbed onto the end of the couch and swung it off the ground, aiming to use it on Vanyel like a baseball bat on a ball._

_She hadn't counted on Vanyel catching the other end with no more than a strained grunt. Caught off guard, Vanyel forced the couch towards her, causing her to move backwards until she felt her back hit the wall, the couch end crushing her against it. Oh God, he was strong too? This just wasn't fair! For a moment, the couch moved off of her before it was rammed back on her upper body and head, causing her to hear a crunching sound. She had no idea if the sound was from the wall or the back of her skull but Videl knew she didn't like it. Not one bit._

_The couch was pulled away then, allowing her to drop to the floor in a heap. Dazed and battered, the room seemed to spin around her. She moved one of her hands to the back of her head, felt something wet there and moved her hand in front of her face, seeing a red substance on them. So that sound was from her head. Not…good…_

_A loud thump was then heard, but Videl ignored it. The room needed to…stop…spinning…right now. Seriously, it needed to stop. Heavy footsteps closed in on her before she felt herself being lifted off the floor. The next thing she knew, a hand latched around her throat and began to squeeze, shutting off her air flow. That helped stopped the room's spinning for her, though her new oxygen-deprived brain was not what she would consider a good development. Faintly, she could hear Vanyel mumbling something; something that made no sense to her. It didn't last long as she heard a whooshing sound. Raising his other hand, Videl made out a very long, very sharp looking rod…thing, and its point was pointing right at her heart. If her mind wasn't already going nuts about the lack of oxygen she was getting at the moment, it was going into overdrive at this point. No way did she want that monstrous thing sticking in her body!_

_Letting out a weak cry, she put as much of her limited strength as she could and kicked her leg forward. Whereas her earlier knee had missed her target, this time her foot made contact with Vanyel's soft spot, causing him let out a choked gasp. Letting go of her throat and the metal weapon, both of his hands went to his crotch, causing Videl to drop to the floor as she gasped for air. Somehow she managed to land on her feet and stayed on them, a small miracle if she ever knew one. However, Videl knew if she stopped now, she was as good as dead. Putting everything she had left into her hand, she slammed her fist into Vanyel's face, sending him flying away, flipping through the air until he crashed into the opposite wall, bursting right through it and landing in the room on the other side._

_Collapsing to the floor, Videl sucked in as much air as she could. Already her stressed mental processes were recovering, allowing her to focus back on the situation at hand. Looking at the floor, Videl immediately caught sight of the metal weapon Vanyel had brought out and lunged for it, picking it up and holding it out in front of her. Looking towards the hole she had last seen her attacker, she waited with baited breath as she heard some groaning and rustling. Eventually, Vanyel climbed through the hole he had made, shaking his head to clear it before he looked to her. There were small trickles of blood going down his face, bits of sheetrock and tile falling from his body. That must've been the bathroom he had landed in. Swallowing, Videl called out to him "Why are you doing this? Why are you trying to kill me?"_

_Vanyel stared at her for a few moments, one of his hands rubbing the back of his head as he tried to sooth a bump or something back there. That made Videl feel slightly better. He deserved every lump she gave him. "It's my job," he eventually said flatly. "You're a vampire and I'm a vampire hunter. I'm supposed to kill you."_

"_I never tried to hurt you!" she shot back. "I was minding my own business until you showed up and tried to stake me!"_

"_It's not me I'm fighting for. It's for the people you hunt at night. The ones you feed off of because you're a monster. One that shouldn't even exist."_

"_I have no choice but to live this way! Animals attack people all the time, but I don't see you trying to kill them!"_

"_Animals are just mindless beasts that act on instinct. You're completely sentient; you know the difference between right and wrong. You know—"_

"_That's not my fault! I already told you, I didn't choose to live off of other people! If I had it my way, I would have lived my life the way it was intended to be!"_

_Vanyel stared at her for a moment, his eyes narrowing. "Then why are you doing this?"_

"_Because I'm not going to kill myself just because of a lifestyle. I became a vampire without even consenting to it. And you're trying to punish me because of that!"_

_Vanyel shook his head. "I don't know what you're going on about and I really don't care. What I do care about are the people you'll be feeding on, killing, or changing to become just like you. I'm not going to stand aside and let you get away with it."_

_Videl gulped, taking a step to a side, the one closest to the door. What she really wanted to do at this time was make a run for the door; run and never look back. Unfortunately, she didn't have the angle on this guy and he could easily catch her so right now she needed to put herself in a better position. Because of that, she needed to stall the guy for time she knew she didn't have._

"_Why are you doing this? You must know there are hundreds, if not thousands of vampires around here. Are you going to try and kill them all or something?" she asked._

_Vanyel nodded his head, keeping his sights on her despite her movement. "Every last one."_

"_You're insane! There's no way you could kill that many and live!"_

_This time he shrugged. "Won't know until I try. I may die, true, but at least I'll take down as many of you as I can."_

_Videl stopped moving, choosing to stare at the guy. He wasn't kidding, he really was going to try and kill every vampire he could get his hands on. While that included her, she couldn't help but feel like he might get pretty close to that goal. There was no way he could or would succeed, but he would definitely take out more of them than they could of him._

_Feeling resigned to the fact that she probably wouldn't be making it out of this room alive, Videl slowly lowered the spike in her hand, though not too far down. She still wanted to keep something between her and this guy, even if he could get around it easily. "Then could you do me a favor?" she asked softly. "There's this guy…I would like it if you could kill him."_

_Vanyel cocked an eyebrow at her. "Is he some kind of ex-boyfriend or something?"_

_Videl paused for a moment, considering that before shuddering in disgust. "Something like that. He's the guy that turned me into a vampire. I've wanted to kill him for a while now but I haven't gotten a chance at him. So if there's any way you could see to it that he dies, I would really appreciated it."_

_Vanyel's face softened at that. Great, now her killer was feeling pity for her. Could this day not get any worse? "Sure, I can do that," he said. "Do you know where I can find him?"_

"_The local mansion, I would think. He likes to move around though. Sometimes he has a place in the city, other times he's out in the country. Last I heard he was staying at the mansion."_

_The young man looked at her puzzled. "Mansion? What are you talking about?"_

_At this, Videl looked surprised. "You don't know about…?" she trailed off. "But that's common knowledge. There's always a mansion vampires like to congregate at. Most even prefer to live there."_

_Vanyel seemed troubled about this. "I seem to have missed something," he finally stated. Jerking his head back to her, he then asked "How knowledgeable are you about vampires?"_

_Videl gave him a dirty look. "Um, I am a vampire. I think I would know about my own kind."_

"_Good. I need information. I want to know everything you know about vampires. Every last detail, every last scrap of information you have."_

_Videl cocked an eyebrow at this. "And you want me to just give this all to you? Umm, you do realize that's treason amongst my people."_

"_And right now your life is in my hands," Vanyel said, a small smile appearing on his lips. "I'm giving you a slight reprieve from death, or do you not want that?"_

_Her eyes widened. Was he serious? He had to be messing with her. Why would he want to keep her alive? For information? No, that couldn't be it. "So let me get this straight, you're going to let me live if I tell you all I know about vampires, right?"_

"_Seems that way," he said._

"_And what about my request?"_

"_I can still do that if you want." For some reason, part of Videl felt that even had she not asked for that, this guy was still going to do it. It didn't matter if he had a reason or not, he had a job to do so any extra incentive didn't really matter._

"_So that's it? I just tell you all I know and you'll let me go?"_

"_For now."_

_Her eyes narrowed. "You plan on killing me at some point, don't you? That's some incentive you've got there."_

_Vanyel shrugged. "I told you, it's my job. Now are you going to talk or should I just finish you right here, right now?"_

_Videl bit her lip. She had a temporary get-out-of-jail-free card—more like a don't-kill-me-now card—and she would have to be crazy not to use it. On the other hand, this guy still planned on killing her at some point. A long term survival plan would have been more welcomed, but right now she only had one choice._

_She opened her mouth._

* * *

><p>Videl had only woken up moments earlier, but she was alert enough to know that something was off. Specifically, Gohan had his hand bandaged and she had never seen him hurt that obvious before. Yes, he got hurt on more than one occasion, but he had always managed to conceal those wounds from her.<p>

"What happened?" she asked, her eyes trained on the bright white wrapping.

Gohan looked up from what he was doing, seeing her staring intently at him. Following her gaze, he found the center of her attention. "I burned my hand last night. Nothing to worry about."

She cocked an eyebrow. "And how did you manage to do that?"

"Grabbed the barrel of a gun as it was firing."

"And you did that because?"

"So I wouldn't get shot."

Well, that was a legitimate reason. Still, he was usually more careful about such things. "So I'm guessing you're going to lie low until it heals."

"Probably the best idea, but you never know," Gohan replied.

"So then what's our next move?"

Gohan thought for a moment. "It would make sense if I kept after Crane. After all, he did get away and vampire hunters make a habit of tying off loose ends. I would also imagine that the shipment he was involved with is not at its final destination. There must be some place they want to take it and put it to use and it's doubtful the safe house they took it too is that place."

Videl nodded. "I'll keep my eyes and ears open then. Crane would have returned to the mansion to report his progress. Someone must have seen him return in a troubled state of mind." Letting out a sigh, Videl then added "I think I'll have to make a return trip to the Soare Mansion. Ugh."

Gohan gave her a small smile. "Sorry about that. We should have tailed the truck to their safe house instead."

She shrugged in answer. "Shoulda, woulda, coulda," she said. "I had a feeling I'd be going there more than I ever wanted the moment you told me to go. So sit back, relax, and enjoy yourself while I go slave away on this never-ending mission of yours." A mischievous feeling appeared in her. Walking to Gohan, she placed a hand lightly on his shoulder and slowly dragged it down his arm. "After all, it seems my job in this relationship of ours is to start things off. What do you mortals call it again? Foreplay?"

A blush began working its way up Gohan's neck, causing the girl to smirk. She hadn't done that in awhile and it made her feel good to put it back into action. Without looking back, she sauntered off, very aware that her comrade was doing his best not to look at her. Whether he was succeeding or not, she didn't know but it mattered little.

Very little did when she felt like teasing.


	8. Chapter 8

She kept her head down, eyes glued to the floor, and shuffled about with as little self-confidence as she could. It was the traditional posture for the servants at any vampire mansion and one Videl was putting to good use as she shuffled her feet down the corridors. After her first appearance at the mansion in years, the girl had felt that perhaps a more stealthy approach would be of better use this time around and she had been proven right.

Wearing the dated uniform all servants had to wear, including a head covering to insure no one gave her a second glance, Videl mimicked every servant she had ever seen and was ignored for more esteem company. It was completely perfect and she had to wonder why she hadn't done this the first time around.

And thanks to her disguise, she was able to witness an odd gathering of vampires, each one looking ready to head out for some unknown destination. There was a job that was about to begin, but what it was she didn't know. It would seem she needed to hang around here for the moment.

"You, wench!" one of the vampires suddenly called out, causing her to stiffen as was expected of her station. "Come here, I need you to adjust these buckles."

Obeying the command, Videl warily approached the man and set to work on his task. It had been awhile since she had seen _anumit_ armor, but she recognized the bulky, black plates. The buckles the vampire meant were on the sides, used to keep the front and back connected together and kept the armor from shifting too much. It had been developed as a counter to a sudden rise in vampire hunters some centuries back. Any weapon a hunter could use to slay them would theoretically be rendered useless and many vampires still believed that. Videl had witnessed Gohan running into a couple of vampires wearing them once. Needless to say, it didn't end well for the two vampires.

Not that she was going to tell these guys.

In fact, all of the vampires here had the armor on. It was almost as if they were expecting to come into a very violent fight and they wanted to take every precaution they could. Something big was going down, but what?

A door on the other side of the chamber opened, revealing Crane and a younger man. Crane seemed a bit edgy, but the man at his side was completely composed, so full of confidence. "You all know the drill," Crane spoke, looking at each man with a piercing eye despite wearing sunglasses. "We need to collect the rest of the shipment and transport it to the safe house. There is no room for error this time. We load up in fifteen minutes. Be ready."

Stepping back, Videl kept her head down as she slowly made her way from the room. There were a couple other servants following her lead, so that didn't raise any suspicion towards her. Yet she somehow still caught the attention of Crane's companion. Letting out a low whistle, one made precisely to get her attention, he leered at her as she came to a stop; begrudgingly she tilted her head up to look at him.

He was a well-built man and carried himself as such. He had an air of pure confidence, such that he didn't care what others thought of him. It would definitely explain why his blond hair reached to his shoulder blades, clashing with the professionalism of his suit. "You look like you could use a friend," he said, his brown eyes looking to catch hers, though she kept them rooted to the floor. "My room's on the third floor. It would be in your interest to be there tonight. So we can get to know each other."

"Yes, milord," Videl mumbled. As a smirk appeared on the man's face, Videl bowed to him, and shuffled out of the room. Once there, she rolled her eyes and huffed. For some reason, she did not like that guy. If he was going on this mission of Crane's then she definitely wanted Gohan to make a point in killing him. Be at his room, her ass!

Glancing around to make sure she wasn't being followed, Videl began making her way out of the mansion. She needed to get word to Gohan as quickly as possible.

* * *

><p>Gohan wasn't a car person.<p>

That is to say, he didn't mind riding in one. He'd been in taxis before. However, it was a completely different thing driving one. He hadn't always been the best driver around and he always considered it a miracle that he managed to keep a car going in a straight line without hitting something.

So when Videl called the apartment and told him something was going down at the docks again, he had wondered how the heck he was going to get there, at least in time to intercept them. He couldn't walk the way and running would have tired him out to be of much use in a fight. So when driving was his only option, he had been less than thrilled.

The person whose car he had stolen would be even less. The way Videl would have seen it, the guy shouldn't have left his keys in the car in plain view. That still didn't settle Gohan's guilty conscience one bit. Hopefully he could get the car back before the guy even knew he had taken it.

But that would have to wait for another time. He was late to the docks and any chance at a confrontation with his prey was not in his favor. Parking the car a couple blocks away, Gohan strolled his way to the docks. Yes, strolled. He didn't want to stick out like a sore thumb by running the rest of the way. He might as well put up a big sign saying he was up to something. So casually and calmly, he made his way to the docks, hands in his pockets and feeling anything but the way he was acting.

As he approached the entrance, a though popped up in his head. If a fight here was objectionable, perhaps he would be better off refraining from it. Besides, the vampires would be on high alert after their previous encounter. No, his best option was to hold off and wait. Let them become complacent and then strike. They wanted to take this Celox stuff to a more secure location. This was his opportunity to follow them there and do some investigating. Then he could kill them. Yes, he preferred this plan over his previous one.

Not that he had planned the first one out to begin with.

There was one small snag to the plan. Videl. She was on her way here despite his protestations. There was nothing she could do here other than risk exposing herself to her kinsmen. No doubt she would be heading to the spot they originally entered the docks the last time. Changing his course from the dock's entrance, Gohan crossed onto another street, heading down it at an increased pace. He needed to get there first before his partner did.

As fate would have it, Videl had gotten there first. Muttering a curse under his breath, Gohan hurried to her car and put his hand on the hood. It was still warm, hot even. Good, she had just gotten here. Looking towards the docks, specifically the fence he and Videl had to climb, he hurried over to it and pulled up it. Poking his head over the top, he saw the familiar scene from his previous visit. The only difference was he caught sight of something moving in the shadows, heading towards the warehouse. Hauling himself over the fence, Gohan didn't bother climbing down as he dropped to the ground, grunting as he landed.

Despite the protest in his legs, Gohan quickly went after the moving shadow. Working in his favor, Videl was trying to sneak her way back to the warehouse whereas Gohan was just trying to catch up to her, allowing him to close the distance between them. Seeing Videl turn a corner behind a shipping crate, Gohan closed the distance between them almost instantly, turning the corner and coming to a complete stop.

Unless Videl had somehow managed to grow a couple of feet and bulked up, that was most definitely not her. Almost as if sensing his presence, the person turned to a side and looked at him with narrowed eyes, instantly recognizing him. "Vampire Hunter," a deep, accented voice spoke, cluing Gohan to this person being a man. "Very good you show here," he spoke, a wicked, pointed grin appearing on his face. "I have you all to self."

Shifting into a defensive stance, Gohan watched as the man completely turned to face him, revealing a heavy club in his hand. Striding towards him, the man swung the club at him, causing Gohan to jerk a step back, and then again as the man swung the weapon back. However, this time the club collided with the shipping crate, a loud booming sound being heard and a large dent appearing in the metal surface. Well, this guys was definitely a vampire. Why he didn't have a gun on him, Gohan didn't know, but considering his last encounter with one, the club was a bit refreshing to go against.

Taking another step back to avoid the club, Gohan then closed in on the vampire before he could do the backswing. Jerking his arm up, he blocked the swing as his forearm made contact with the vampire's, stopping the swing in its tracks. With his other hand, Gohan threw a fist, slamming it into the vampire's face.

Now, when Gohan usually threw a punch, he usually expected what ever he hit to drop. Worst case scenario was his opponent would stumble back. Apparently this guy was a lot tougher than he looked as his head only jerked to a side. When the vampire looked at him, he was grinning maliciously, a trickle of blood coming from the corner of his mouth. Using his own strength, the vampire forced his club-holding arm against Gohan, pushing his feet off the ground and forcing him against the dented shipping container. Bringing up a fist, he threw it at Gohan, aiming to smash his head in. Rolling against the steel container, the young man moved out of the way, the vampire's fist creating another dent in the container, along with another booming sound. Putting some distance between him and his opponent, Gohan stopped at the other end of the shipping container, pulling out his favorite stake and preparing to go in for the kill.

The vampire only seemed amused by this. "You think stake will work?" he called out before beating a fist against his chest. "I wear _anumit_ armor. Stake no work on me," he declared proudly.

Well, that was something Videl had left out of her call. Scowling, Gohan really wished she had told him that little detail, not that it would change anything. They would just make things slightly more difficult. For some reason, vampires became reckless when they wore those things. And it was true that you couldn't pierce the sleek metal plating. But like any armor, there was a weakness in them and fortunately for the young hunter, he knew where all of them were.

Handing his stake to his other hand, Gohan clinched his fist tightly, gathering his strength into his arm and hand. Staring down the vampire, he wanted for him to make the first move and he did not disappoint. Striding towards him, the vampire eagerly closed the distance between them, prepared to swing his club again.

This time, however, as the vampire went to swing, Gohan took a step towards the vampire and threw his fist at him with blinding speed. His blow hit right in the middle of the vampire's armor, the armor denting instantly as Gohan heard snapping sounds. Seemed he broke a couple of ribs with that strike. The vampire then went flying through the air, dropping his club as he did and landing on his back seconds later, skidding a couple more feet for good measure. Seeing the vampire not getting up, Gohan approached him casually, noticing his foe breathing raggedly, his face flushed as his body lay prone. "What…how…" he managed to gasp out as he caught sight of Gohan.

"Let me help you," Gohan simply said as he bent down, grabbing the vampire's arm at the wrist and lifting it up. With his other hand, he then stabbed his stake into the vampire's armpit, sinking the wooden point all the way in until it pierced the heart. The vampire's body went rigid as he sputtered out blood from his mouth. His eyes then glazed over and his body went limp.

And there was one such weakness. For some reason the vampires made this special armor of theirs with large armholes. It never seemed to occur to them that one could just as easily pierce a heart from the side as the front or back. Oh well, he wasn't going to correct them on it.

That was when Videl decided to show up. "What happened here?" she demanded in a harsh whisper. Her eyes were blazing from a mix of anger and fear, though what she had to be angry about escaped Gohan at the moment.

Wiping the clinging blood from the stake on the vampire's clothes, Gohan then put it away as he stood up, looking right at the girl. "I was looking for you when I ran into this guy. And now that I've found you, it's time we went back to the car."

"But what about the shipment? I thought you wanted another shot at these guys."

"I will after we follow these guys to their little safe house," Gohan replied calmly, walked to the girl and hooking an arm around hers, dragging her back to the fence. "Now let's get back to the car."

Finally convinced, Videl followed the young man to her car, the two getting in and the girl starting the engine up a moment later. Driving off, she headed to the entrance to the docks and pulled over, turning the headlights off but keeping the engine running. Since there hadn't been much of the shipment left and it had taken them a bit to get over here, the vampires should be finishing up any time now. That is unless they had already left.

That would've been annoying.

Fortunately their patience was rewarded. It wasn't long until two trucks pulled through the entrance, looking exactly like the truck they had seen last time. Waiting several moments, Videl finally turned on her lights and drove the car down the street, turning to follow the trucks.

Gohan had to sigh in relief. Seeing the trucks a couple blocks down, he had half expected Videl to hurry after them and ride their bumper—not the ideal way to tail someone regardless of how the movies portrayed it. Though he wasn't quite sure how to follow someone in a car without being discovered, he was pretty sure there were obvious wrong ways. Tailgating, for instance, was not a good stalking tactic.

And luck decided to smile upon them it seemed as the trucks made very few turns on their way to their safe house. It made following them so much easier. When they saw the trucks pull over in front of a very affluent building, something that didn't come as a surprise to either of them, Videl pulled the car off onto a side street and parked. Turning the engine off, the two slipped out of the car, and made their way down the street until they reached the corner, peering around it once they reached it.

The two trucks had been emptied of all vampire personnel, each one picking up boxes and heading into the building. Leaning closer to Videl, Gohan whispered "Do you know anything about this building?"

Videl shook her head. "No, nothing." Turning her head slightly, she then nodded towards an alleyway right next to the building. "But I see a fire escape there. I think we can use it to get into the building and—"

"You will be staying here," Gohan interrupted. "You can't risk being seen and since we don't know what's inside that building, I'm going in alone." Videl stared at him for several moments after that, huffing as she scowled at him and muttered something unflattering.

Resisting the urge to smirk at her, Gohan gave another look around before leaving her, heading for the fire escaped that Videl had so kindly pointed out previously. Gohan couldn't help but wonder for a moment why the vampires would choose a building like this though. Yes, fire safety was important, but the slightly dirty ally and a rusty metal fire escape took away from that rich, sophisticated look vampires seemed to strive for in every day life, despite this area matching their idea of style. Maybe his biased outlook on vampires was starting to get the better of him. Though he had to admit it was surprising that someone hadn't complained about the alleyway being cleaned. Perhaps this area wasn't exactly what it looked liked.

Reaching the escape, Gohan noticed that the ladder had not been lowered, being held in place on the lower level of the fire escape. Sighing irritably, the young man gave a look around to make sure no one was looking at him and crouched down. Feeling his muscles tightening as he prepared himself, he then leapt off the ground, launching himself high enough to grab onto the railing of the fire escape and swing himself onto the escape. He heard a slight protesting from the escape as his weight settled on it, but thankfully nothing dramatic happened, namely this metal creation falling off the side of the building and trying to flatten him on the ground.

Looking to a nearby window, one that would need a good cleaning in the next year or two—yet another thing to spoil the affluent facade of the place—Gohan only saw darkness through it. Well, that room wasn't being used. Climbing the fire escape to the next level, he had better luck as he found a slightly cleaner window and a light flooding out of it. From what he could tell, the room covered the entire floor, boxes stacked upon each other. Huh, so this expensive-looking building front—aside from the alley next to it—was just a cover for a dingy looking storage house. He really needed to tone down his misgivings of these vampires, even though they weren't exactly the brightest bulbs around. Squinting his eyes, he could just make out some sort of column in the middle of the room. There were a few vampires milling about, appearing and disappearing into the column at times. Maybe that was a staircase or an elevator of some kind.

Moving away from the window, Gohan climbed up to the next level and noticed the darkness emanating from the window there. Raising his elbow up, he balled his hand into a fist and cupped it with his other hand, steeling his body. Then with a jerk, he slammed his elbow into the glass, causing it to crack. Giving the window a disproving look, Gohan repeated his action, breaking the glass on this blow. Pushing the jagged pieces aside, he then reached onto the other side of the glass and searched for the window lock, finding it and discovering that it was unlocked.

Oh great, he just broke a window for nothing.

Growling in annoyance, Gohan forced the window open and climbed through it, not bothering to shut it since he had already gone through the trouble of breaking it. The shards of glass on the ground would have been a dead giveaway that someone had forced their way in.

Moving away from the window, Gohan made his way out of the dark room, finding himself in a room with that column he had spied earlier. Walking around it, he found one side of it had a wide opening, the only thing keeping him from going through it was a waist high metal gate. The column was hollow in the middle, creating a shaft; it was also bigger than he had first thought, telling him that this was a service elevator for hauling up big, bulky stuff.

Hearing a whine, Gohan looked down the shaft, seeing the top of an elevator descending down from the floor below him, going down to the next one where it stopped. Alright, he needed to get to the floor below him. For a moment, he considered dropping down the shaft and onto the top of the elevator, but he rejected it the next moment. There was no need to do something that reckless at the moment.

Instead, he searched around for a staircase, finding it a couple minutes later. Quickly heading down them, he took cover in the room he found himself in, seeing a few vampires moving boxes about. There was one, however, that caught his attention. Standing near the elevator shaft was a guy with shoulder-length blond hair. His arms were crossed over his chest, his posture stiff and straight. An arrogant, impatient look was on his face, almost as if he wished he were somewhere else. "Alright you morons, hurry it up. I don't want to be here all night!" he said. This caused a few mutterings from his workers.

Putting his hands on a wooden crate in from of him, Gohan leaned on it to so he could get a better look at the other vampires when he head a low creaking sound. Freezing, he looked at the box with wide eyes before looking at the room's other occupants. He would have let out a sign of relief upon seeing them still working, acting as if they hadn't heard the sound, but he wasn't about to give then another chance at hearing him. Even the blond guy was still doing his supervising unhindered.

Deciding to move from his spot, Gohan made his way to another stack of boxes, giving him a different view of the working vampires. They all seemed to be going to the same spot and dumping their cargo there. Most likely it was the shipment they had spent collecting this night and when he had crashed on their previous operation. Now if—

"I was wondering when you would show up," an arrogant voice said from behind him, causing Gohan to immediately stiffen.

Shooting his eyes about, Gohan immediately took notice that the blond guy was missing from his spot by the elevator. How the heck had he not noticed that? Intent on making up for that lapse, Gohan immediately shot an arm up, bending it at the elbow, and jerking it backwards. Unfortunately, the blond guy caught his elbow and held it securely. A hand then grabbed onto the back of his jacket, just below the collar, and Gohan felt himself pulled off the ground and thrown through the air.

At one moment, Gohan could plainly see the floor passing beneath him, indicating that he was upside down and not in the best position to land safely—after all, a concrete floor was not the best thing to land on with your head. Managing to turn his body in midair, he got his feet underneath him in time to hit the ground, causing him to skid across it. Throwing one arm out behind him and the other in front of him, Gohan recovered his balanced in time to come to a stop, completely in view of the other vampires as they stopped what they were doing and gave him looks of hatred.

When a couple of them began to make their way to him, the blond guy suddenly shouted "All of you stay back! This one's mine." Turning his attention back to the blond guy, Gohan scowled at him as his hand went into his jacket and pulled out his wooden stake. If this guy thought he could take him down single-handedly, he was sorely mistaken. Seeing the man strolling towards him confidently, Gohan began marching towards him.

Taking the offensive, Gohan threw his stakeless hand at him, aiming to punch him in the face. The blond guy blocked that easily, the arrogant look still on his face. With his other hand, Gohan jabbed his stake at the man, who used the same arm to block the strike, his hand coming down and hitting the side of Gohan's hand and pushing the pointed stake away. Immediately, Gohan bent the arm of his other hand and jerked it forward, the bottom part of his forearm slamming the man's head, stunning him.

Or so he thought. Though Gohan knew he landed a solid blow, the blond guy began stumbling backwards, almost as if he wasn't used to being hit so hard. Pushing that thought away, the young man went in for the kill, lunging forward to stab him again.

This time the man dodged to a side, throwing a punch at him a moment later. Reacting, Gohan moved to his left, letting the vampire almost move passed him as he looked on. With his empty hand, he curled his fingers in, jutting his palm out. Swinging his arm, his palm slammed into the back of the blond man's head, sending him stumbling forward. He should be seeing stars too, the vampire hunter mused, knowing from experience what the blow would do.

Again, he went in for the kill, taking a few steps forward before swinging his stake at him. However, as the blond took another clumsy step, that leg suddenly went rigid, the man putting all of his weight onto it as he leaned forward, his other leg lifting off the ground and snapping out in the blink of an eye as he turned his blond head to look at him.

Gohan caught the glimmer of shrewdness in the man's eye a moment before his foot made contact with his hand. Somehow the guy managed to add a slight swing to his kick, allowing it to hit Gohan on his knuckles rather than the sharp point of his stake. Instantly, a sharp pain shot from his hand and down his arm, causing the young man to jerk it back and hold his hand as it throbbed. Hissing as he did so, he missed the blond man bring his leg back, lean his torso up, and do a little hop as his grounded leg came off the ground and his other leg shot down to replace it. Spinning on his heel, he spun around and lashed out with his other leg, his side kick nailing Gohan in the head and sending him flying off his feet and through the air.

Dazed, Gohan couldn't do anything as his body flew into a tall stack of wooden crates, breaking through the front of one and exploding out the back in a shower of splintered wood. Moments later, Gohan found himself hitting the ground, skidding on it before his body began rolling across it. When he came to a stop, the only thing he could do was try to catch his breath, heaving deeply.

What the hell had happened? He had the clear upper hand a moment ago and this guy just completely flipped the script on him. Feeling his injured hand, he could feel a jolt of pain whenever he pressed on his knuckles. This just couldn't be good.

Suddenly, someone grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him up. The next thing he knew, a fist slammed into his face, jerking his head to a side. This was followed by a backhand, which whipped his head to the other side. Then he felt a second hand grab onto the other side of his jacket and lift him off the ground. Suddenly, he was thrown straight up into the air, his body and the back of his head coming to a hard stop when it hit the roof.

As gravity pulled him back to the floor, Gohan felt himself be caught by two strong arms. Well, his torso was caught anyways; his legs were dangling below him uselessly as he tried to make sense of the painful colors and exploding stars in his head.

"You know, you're not as tough as I thought you would be," a disappointed voice said to him. The next thing he knew, he felt his body moving, his legs whipping through the air as he was swung from the air and rammed into the ground, cracks appearing all around his impact point.

Letting out a painful gasp, blood shot out of Gohan mouth as his eyes bulged out of their sockets. His body was screaming from the thrashing it was going through. Vaguely he could hear a voice ordering people about, something to do about raising the elevator. Then a presence appeared next to him, kneeling as it spoke to him. "You know, where I come from it is a custom to tell our victims the name of their killer. Something about honoring the fallen, which you are about to join." The man, the guy that was kicking his ass Gohan recognized, leaned closer to him. "So know my name, Vampire Hunter. It's Sharpner, and it will be the last name you will ever hear."

Turning to his side to get a better look at him, Gohan found Sharpner moving again, standing up on his feet. Then one of his legs cocked back and swung forward, nailing him in the stomach and sending him flying through the air again. This time, however, he didn't hit any boxes or anything. Instead his flight began to curve down, his body falling for what felt like forever. The sudden stop a few moments later made him reconsider that forever part. Letting out a cry, he shut his eyes tight, trying to overcome the pounding in his head and the throbbing in his body. On that front he was partly successful. Slowly opening his eyes, he found himself lying on the floor of a dark room. A very tall room now that he looked straight up.

That was when he heard a whining sound, followed by the shifting of gears and cables. The dark roof above him began closing in on him, making Gohan realize he was at the bottom of the elevator shaft and he was about to become the flattest vampire hunter in history.

This did not bode well for him.

Darkness began to overwhelm him, whether that was from his brain calling it quits and falling unconscious or the bottom of the elevator descending onto him and crushing him like an empty beer can, he didn't know. All he knew was that he didn't hurt anymore.

* * *

><p>It feels a bit weird not writing Sharpner with a comedic edge here. I was asked to do a more serious Sharpner some time ago and I though I would give it a shot here. I get the feeling I'll be hearing about how Sharpner shouldn't stand a chance against Gohan in any sort of fight, but I'll deal with those when I hear them. I feel like everyone following this story realizes this is just AU and thus anything is possible, so this fight shouldn't cause any problems. I do miss having something hilarious happening with Sharpner though.<p> 


	9. Chapter 9

Correction, Gohan was still hurting. Damn unconsciousness for not doing its job. Was it too much to ask that if he was going to be asleep that he would be sleeping without pain?

Wait a minute, if he was aware of being in pain, then there was no way he was unconscious. Well, that was unpleasant.

With a moan, Gohan slowly opened his eyes, finding himself in unfamiliar surroundings. No wait, he starting to recognize the place. He was in his bed at Videl's apartment. The room was dark, well, as dark as it could be as the last rays of daylight fought in vain to get pass the curtains. All in all, it wasn't bright but nor was it dark.

It was at that point Gohan realized his body wasn't going to be letting him move about as he wished. Though there was still some pain in various parts of his body, he mostly felt the stiffness normally associated with being sore. Using his eyes, he found that he couldn't quite see what he looked like at the moment due to his bed sheets and comforter covering him. Moving his right hand, he soon found it covered in a cast, making him stare at it for a moment. A quick flash of seeing a man kicking his hand reminded him why the cast was there, followed by a grunt of disproval. Lying that hand down, he moved his other one to his eyes and rubbed them. Moving them up his head to scratch at his messy hair, he became aware of some bandages wrapped around his head. Slowly, he began feeling about his head, looking for some irregularity and let out a sigh of relief when he found nothing. It was always a good thing to not find a cracked skull.

Unfortunately, the sigh caused his ribs to protest in his chest, causing him to wince. Investigating those now, he found himself quite tender there. Just great, he had some injury to his ribs. That was going to be a fantastic injury to get over.

Finally done with his examination, Gohan dropped his arm to the bed and chose to just wallow in the soreness of his body. What the hell had happened? How had he gotten all of these injuries? And how did he wind up here? If he had all of these injuries, he was definitely sure he wouldn't have been able to crawl all the way here.

Closing his eyes, he began thinking back to last night. Alright, there had been that call by Videl, him rushing to the docks, following the vampires from the docks to that building of theirs. Wait, it wasn't a normal building. It had been a warehouse. A warehouse disguised as some fancy residence. And he had broken in.

That was where things got jumbled. He was pretty sure that flashback he had of having his hand kicked happened there, but he couldn't figure out what else happened before everything went black. He must have suffered a head injury to make everything so muddled. That thought was quickly followed by a "duh" moment. The bandages around his head were evidence enough that he had suffered some sort of head injury, most likely coupled with a concussion. Great, now he was thinking slower. This had better not be permanent.

As the last few rays of light disappeared from his room, the door slowly opened, revealing Videl holding a tray with various…uhh, things on it. He couldn't quite tell what they were but he really hoped there was some pain medication. Because he had turned his head slightly to regard her, Videl caught onto to his consciousness. "I see you're awake," she stated simply, her voice conveying little emotion.

"How long have I've been out?" he asked, his voice coming out raspy.

"Almost two days," she answered as she entered the room, walking to a nearby chair and table and setting the tray on the table. "It's a good thing you woke up. I was starting to consider finding you an IV."

"That's nice of you," Gohan replied. "So would you mind telling me what happened? I'm a little foggy right now."

Videl didn't answer. Instead she fiddled with something on the tray. "Think you can sit up for a moment? I need to replace the bandages around your chest."

It took a considerable effort for Gohan to sit up, even with some help from Videl. His body did not want to move and it was stubborn about staying still, but after a few minutes the young man was sitting up and his nursemaid was taking off the old bandages there. "You remember following those guys to that warehouse of theirs?" she asked after a bit.

When he nodded—slowly—his head in answer, she continued "You got into a fight with a counteragent. That's what vampires call the people that kill vampire hunters. I guess vampire hunter hunters was too redundant for them." She paused for a moment as she completely removed the bandages from Gohan's torso and tossed them into a nearby wastebasket. Picking up a bandage roll from the tray, she began rewrapping him. "Obviously, the counteragent got the upper hand and did a number on you. You were about to be crushed by the elevator when I got to you."

Gohan frowned. "You came into the building? Why?"

Videl turned her eyes to look at him. "You think I was just going to sit in the car and wait for you? Wasn't going to happen. And as it turned out it was a good thing I did go in. Or would you prefer to be a nice bloody spatter right now?"

It wasn't hard for Gohan to ignore that mental image, the head injury finally contributing something useful. Moving pass Videl's pointed statement, he summarized "So you managed to get me out of there and brought me here. Do I want to know how you managed to get the both of us out of there without being seen?"

"No, I don't think you do."

Gohan resisted the urge to sigh, mostly because he didn't want to aggravate his sensitive ribs. "So how badly did I get my ass kicked?"

"A couple of injured ribs, an injury to the first two fingers of your right hand, and a concussion. I'm pretty sure I didn't miss anything else."

Gohan cocked an eyebrow at her. "That's pretty vague. Injured ribs and hand."

Videl returned the look. "Were you expecting something more detailed?"

"Well, yeah actually."

"Do I look like a nurse to you?"

"Point taken."

Deciding it would be best to move the subject along, Gohan then said "Thanks, I guess. For patching me and all."

Videl moved back and gave him a look. "'Thanks, I guess'? That's all I get for saving your life?" She went back to wrapping him up, cutting the tape when she was fished and tied it off. Setting the bandage roll aside, she stood up and began removing the bandages around his head. "You're an ungrateful patient, aren't you?"

"Sorry, I'm just not used to being cared for," Gohan said as apologetically as he could.

"I can see that," she replied drily. "Either you learn some gratitude the next time you get hurt, or you never get hurt again. Got that?"

With the head bandages removed, she got right back on replacing them. "You know you're going to be bedridden for a couple of days, right? Not to mention killing any vampires. Ribs take a while to heal even with limited activity and I'm not even considering your hand."

"A month minimum," Gohan said. He would have shrugged, but he didn't muster up the energy to do that. "But that doesn't mean we can just sit around and wait for me to get better. You need to keep your eyes and ears open for peculiar activity."

"Oh, you mean something like a vampire collecting a bunch of blood clotting drugs? You would think something like that is strange, right?"

Gohan rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I would say so. Oh, and find out about that counteragent guy. Unless he thinks I'm dead, I get the feeling he'll be hanging around for the foreseeable future."

Videl nodded her head in agreement. "I didn't get too good of a look at him at that warehouse, so can you describe him for me?"

"He was tall, well-built. Had long blond hair and acted as if he owned the world. Said his name was Sharpner."

Videl's eyes narrowed. "For some reason that description sounds familiar," she murmured. Finished with bandaging his head, she then took a look at his hand, doing nothing more than making sure it was still in place. With that, she moved to the tray and placed the bandage roll on it. She stopped for a moment to stare at something before she picked it up and held it out to him. "Thought you might want a couple of these," she said as she offered a couple of pills. Recognizing them as pain killers, Gohan reached for them across his body with his good hand and took them, popping them into his mouth and swallowing them dry.

Giving him a small smile, she then picked up the tray and began making her way out of the room. "You need to get some rest. It's going to be awhile before you're back to full strength and with that counteragent out there, you're going to need every bit of it you can get." Turning to face him as she stood on the other side of the door way and shifting the tray to balance in one had as her other grabbed onto the doorknob, she added "And you better not do anything stupid, like getting out of bed. It was a pain in the ass to get you back here and on that damn thing and I really don't feel like putting you back up there a second time."

"Aye, aye," Gohan replied. Then a thought occurred to him. "Hey Videl? If you don't mind me asking, where did you get the cast?" At this he lifted up his casted hand. "Bandages I can understand, but I'm assuming you're the only person to actually assess my well-being. I sorta doubt you took me to see a doctor before coming here."

Videl stared at the cast for a moment before answering. "I stole the cast stuff from a hospital and found directions on how to use it on the internet."

"Wow, I'm kinda impressed."

All he got in response was a small smile from the girl before his bedroom door was closed shut. Staring at it for a few moments, Gohan then nestled down to get comfortable. If he was going to have to stay here, he might as well not be uncomfortable. And then a new thought occurred to him.

He was feeling hungry.

* * *

><p>Putting away the medical supplies, Videl couldn't help but feel frustrated. Three years worth of constant vigilance and effort were coming to a screeching halt with this new development. Three years full of devotion to her vengeance and the one guy she was counting on to pull it off was incapacitated. Yeah, she could have blamed herself for the majority of the three years since she had only been picking at small fries for most of it. Yet despite those efforts, there was the occasional big bust that made ripples in the vampire world, ripples that had begun to develop hope for her that she would finally accomplish what she so desired.<p>

She should have known going public with Gohan's existence would have brought in a counteragent.

Now everything had gotten complicated. The vampire community would most assuredly be on high alert now that a vampire hunter had been spotted, especially with this big job of theirs going on. Never mind that they would think Gohan was dead, they would have heightened security on everything they did until they were finished with this blood clotting business. That meant constant usage of _anumit_ armor and the presence of a counteragent. She'd bet every cent she had on that.

The ringing of her cell phone snapped her out of her musings at that moment. Picking up the nearest headset, she answered it and heard a very unexpected voice. "Hey Videl?" someone sounding like Gohan spoke.

Blinking her eyes for a moment, Videl said slowly "Gohan? Why are you using the phone?"

"Well, I figured it'd be easier to call you instead of shouting for you."

"Okay, umm…what do you want?"

"Well, I'm starting to feel hungry…"

Videl paused at that for a moment before she shook her head. She should have expected something like this to happen. The guy had been unconscious for the pass two days after all and didn't have much of any sustenance in that time. It was quite unfortunate though, that she didn't feel like cooking at the moment. Then again, she rarely cooked to begin with, so one could say she was never in the mood to cook.

Sighing, she turned to the refrigerator and opened the door, looking for anything that could be tossed in the microwave and nuked. Her eyes soon spied a small carton of what she assumed was leftover takeout food. She hoped Gohan was in the mood for it cause that was exactly what he was going to get. "I found some leftover Chinese if you're interested," she finally said into the phone.

Apparently, Gohan caught on to the fact that she wasn't a seasoned chef and took what she offered without complaint. "That sounds fine. Thanks."

Hanging up, Videl went through the motions of pulling the leftovers out and pouring them out onto a plate. Sticking them into the microwave, she heated it up and took it to the tray she had previously used for the medical stuff. Filling a glass full of water, she then took the hastily put-together meal to Gohan's room, entering the room once the door was open. Setting the tray over his lap, she gave him a brief "Bon appetite," and left him to his food.

Hmm…and speaking of food, she was starting to feel hungry too. Guess it was her turn to fill her stomach, though she wasn't in the mood for leftovers. It seemed it was time to go hunting again.

* * *

><p>To Ultimate Black Ace: Sorry I didn't get back to ya a couple chapters ago. I just completely forgot. Anyways I completely agree with you, it definitely needed to happen.<p> 


	10. Chapter 10

Videl strode out of an alley, slightly satisfied, slightly disgusted with herself; very conflicting emotions to have at one time. Her satisfied half came from feeding from her latest prey; her disgusted half came from the guy she actually fed on. The guy had been on some sort of drug and it had left a very bitter aftertaste in her mouth. Now her stomach was doing away with whatever poisons were in that blood, purifying it, but in the process it was giving her some indigestion. It was a burning, disgusting feeling, and she really wished she had waited to find someone better. That would have included just about anyone at this point.

But then, this was perhaps her fault in some form or fashion. She had come to the seedier side of town—for what ever reason, she honestly had no clue—and this place had more of the undesirable mortals to feast on. That meant there was an overabundance of unwanted people—which in turn meant there were a lot of people that could go missing without anyone being concerned, but was not the chosen hunting grounds for any vampire. Those people were usually infested with various impurities, such as alcohol, drugs, and disease. This had led to many studies being conducted as to whether vampires could absorb any of these undesirable quantities. It was these studies that led to the knowledge of their digestive systems.

That still didn't change the fact that the blood tasted like crap.

Settling into a stroll, Videl lazily observed her surroundings, seeing all sorts of people walking, lying, and standing about the streets. The streets themselves looked as if they could use a good cleaning. Well, every place except for the steaming manhole she passed by, a low hissing reaching her ears as she passed by.

The buildings along the street didn't look much better either. They were just as dirty as the pavement with that added bonus of graffiti. A few of them had rotten wood barricading their entrances and windows, trying to keep out trespassers, not that it did any good. There were plenty of missing or broken wood planks where there shouldn't have been if the owners were truly intent on keeping people out. All in all, someone could have set this place on fire and no one would have given it a second thought. Well, everyone except for who owned that clean looking building down a block.

Videl paused, her body coming to a stop as she eyed the unusually clean building. In fact, there was a large sign above the doorway that proclaimed it a store of the dark arts. Her first thought was that the place had a very enthusiastic businessperson that thought they could make a quick buck with a store that held bizarre trinkets. That was all that these "dark art stores" or places that had stuff used for witchcraft were. Only the gullible went in search of such places.

However, Videl couldn't help but notice how out of every place along this street, not a single person stood by its entrance, or laid passed out on the sidewalk in front of it. In fact, it seemed as if people were trying to avoid the place. Letting her curiosity get the best of her, Videl began walking towards the store, reaching it and pulling open the door before stepping in.

What she found was a place jam-packed with shelves. If there was a place for a shelf to be, there was one to be found there. And on these shelves were neatly organized…things. Jars, baskets, and caldrons held various objects in them. Some were mundane things like supposed wands for spell casting to what looked like a floating bird claw. No wait, the little sign in front of it said it belonged to a griffon. Ooooh, and there was a little jar full of newt eyes next to that. Videl was half-tempted to pick one up and throw it against a wall just to see what would happen, yet the more she stared at them, the more she felt that they looked a little _too_ real. Hmm, she couldn't say she was really feeling like cleaning up eye fluids tonight if they were in fact real.

"Is there something I can help you with?" a voice called to her then. Looking up, Videl saw a middle-aged woman standing behind a wooden counter, looking at her with kindly eyes. She had a motherly air about her, as if she were destined to have a litter of children running around and biting at her ankles. She even looked like one with the way her hair was pulled into a bun and her face set in a gentle expression.

"I was just looking around," Videl answered, turning her head this way and that to further prove herself.

"Well, if you have any questions, feel free to ask them," the woman said, turning to head somewhere else in the store, her dark robe rustling around her. To Videl's eye, it looked comfortable and soft and made her want one for herself. Like any other woman, she had a soft spot for soft things against her skin.

Glancing back at the too real-looking newt eyes, she began to follow the shopkeeper woman around. "You know, stores like this always make me wonder whether the dark arts are real," she spoke up, keeping her eyes amongst the strange merchandise. Feeling the woman's eyes on her, Videl suddenly felt the urge to explain herself. "I mean, I find these sorts of stores all over and I always felt like it was just a bunch of people fooling themselves."

"You mean all those idiots spouting off about spirits and mystical forces?" the woman clarified. "I guess I can't blame you for thinking that way. Most of them think they know what they're talking about when all they really are doing is repeating what their friends told them."

"And those are the people who usually come in here and buy this stuff, right?" Videl prodded.

"I would be careful who I would call an idiot, dear," she replied. "After all, you're in here."

"Well, I don't have any intention on buying…" Videl paused here to read the label on the nearest basket. "Dragon balls." She blinked at that. "How the heck did you get the testicles of a dragon? Wouldn't that have pissed the dragon off?"

The woman sighed in annoyance. "Well, if you're not going to buy anything, could you please leave? I have bills to pay and I simply cannot spend my time talking to someone who has no intent on buying something."

Turning her sights to the shopkeeper, Videl eyed her robe again. "Well, if you're selling any of those robes, I'd buy one. It looks really comfy."

The woman spread her arms out, the sleeves hanging lowly off her appendages as she looked herself up and down. "Yes, I suppose it's comfortable," she acknowledged, dropping her arms down. "But only people of my order can wear these robes."

Videl shrugged. "Oh well, it was worth a try." Giving the store another look around, she then wondered out loud "Does any of this stuff even work?"

"Nope, not a bit of it," the woman answered.

Videl immediately fell to the ground. Honesty was rare enough to find these days, but for someone to admit that their merchandise was utterly useless was unheard of; the admission caught her off guard. "Dear, are you okay?" the woman asked, looking at her bewildered.

"Yeah, I'm okay," she said as she got back to her feet. "I'm just not used to someone telling me that they're selling crap."

"Well, like you said, only idiots come here to buy anything."

Alright, she had her there. Giving her a smile, Videl had to admit she was starting to like this woman. "So can you do anything concerning the dark arts?"

"If I wish too," the woman replied flippantly.

"So you can put curses on people or whip up something that could cure a disease?"

"Depends if that person is a paying customer."

Folding her arms behind her head and looking towards the ceiling, Videl then ventured "I have a…an acquaintance that recently hurt himself. Would it be possible for you to heal him?"

"How did your acquaintance hurt himself?"

Videl paused for a moment. She couldn't necessarily tell this total stranger that the person in question had been assaulted and thrown down an elevator shaft. That would only raise some unwanted questions. So she settled for an old standby. "He fell down some stairs."

The woman looked at her warily. "He fell down some stairs," she repeated dryly.

"Well, more like thrown down them if you have to know."

"And were you the one to throw him down them?"

"No, but I did patch him up."

"Patch him up. Did he break something?"

"Not sure. He doesn't have any insurance so he can't afford to go see a doctor. All we know is that his hand hurts real bad."

The woman sighed again. "I suppose I can't just leave a soul to suffer. Follow me." At that, the woman walked towards the back of the store, Videl following her. Reaching a door on the back wall, the woman opened the door and walked through it, climbing some stairs a moment later. Closing the door behind them, Videl continued to follow the woman until they reached the second floor. There Videl found herself in a little apartment, one that had a table and chairs on one side of the main room and a bed and dresser on the other. There was a door on one side of the apartment, a small sign on it indicating it as a bathroom. On the other side of the room was a doorway with a large opening in the wall next to it. Videl could see a kitchen on the other side of the door way and through the opening in the wall. It was there the woman had retreated to.

Walking to the kitchen, Videl was soon assaulted by various aromas that nearly sent her into ecstasy. Stopping at the doorway, she closed her eyes and sniffed the air, fighting back a moan a second later. These smells…they were amazing! What was this woman making up here that smelled so good?

Opening her eyes, she caught sight of the woman as she was putting various foods into containers and stuffing them into a large shopping bag. From what she could see, there was fish, rice, some mixture of green vegetables and carrots, noodles and broth, and other various foods. As the woman finished packing the shopping back, she turned and hauled it to Videl. "Feed this to your friend for dinner. By morning he'll be as good as new."

Videl stared at the woman and bag. "But…I thought you said all that stuff in the store was useless."

"Yes, all the stuff downstairs is useless. But I do all my magic up here. Now, do you want this bag or not? I don't have all night."

"Are…are you saying you're a real witch?"

The woman gave her annoyed look. "Don't look so surprised. You seem like a smart girl and all, but I didn't think you would be so slow on realizing this. Now are you going to just stand there and look dumb or are you going to take this bag?"

"Oh! Sorry!" she exclaimed, immediately reaching out for the bag. "Umm, how much do I owe you for all of this?"

"Carry this to the counter," the woman answered, releasing her hold on the bag and making Videl nearly drop it in response. This thing was heavier than she thought it was. "We'll settle up there."

It wasn't long after that that the two women were downstairs. Videl was really glad she had been a vampire at the moment, mostly so she could carry the bag easier. She didn't have to call upon all of her strength mind you, but had she been her pre-vampire self, she would have had to drag the thing all the way back to her apartment.

Once the two were downstairs, it didn't take long for the witch to calculate the bill. Videl had paid it and was ready to head back home when she had a question pop into her head. "I hope I'm not being rude or anything, but would you mind telling me your name?" she asked. Despite the fact that she herself was a supernatural creature, she had never had a run-in with a real witch. She had always been curious as to their existence and in all the time she had been alive, she had never met one.

Fortunately, the woman didn't seem to be offended by the question. "My name is Chichi. And you are?"

"Videl. It's nice to meet you Chichi."

The two women stared at each other after that, neither sure what to say. It was safe to say they were trapped in an increasingly uncomfortable silence. Finally, when it had become too unbearable for her, Videl began to back away and said "I better get going then."

"I hope your friend gets better," Chichi called to her.

Giving her a teasing look, Videl replied "If this food of yours does what you say it will, you don't need to hope." Not waiting for a response, the girl exited the shop and made her way down the street, her shopping back swinging with her every step. Her car wasn't too far away and with all of her other "errand" completed, it was time to go home. Though she would have to wait until tomorrow evening, she really wanted to see if this miracle food she had bought lived up to its hype.

And if it didn't, she would be paying another visit to this store and Chichi wouldn't like the way it would end.

* * *

><p>Yeah, I couldn't help but put in a Dragonball joke. It was just too good of a place to put it and I needed something unexpected to be put there.<p> 


	11. Chapter 11

Gohan stared at the layout in front of him. Videl had somehow found what looked like a small table and placed it right over him, covering it with every assortment of food that she could. Had he been lying down, there would be no way he could have sit up, so it was fortunate he already was sitting.

After staring at the feast in front of him, Videl looking at him expectantly, he had to wonder if she had made all of this. He had to suppress a shudder at that thought. The last time she had access to a kitchen, he could have sworn she was cooking with something poisonous, arsenic perhaps. Gohan had spent the next three days puking his guts up and seeing spots before his eyes. It wouldn't have surprised him at all if he had died from that. From that day forth, he had refused to eat anything she made personally. It was alright if it was microwavable, but anything her hands touched became edible death.

His stomach was still thanking him for making that decision.

Shifting his eyes to the girl, he finally asked her "Did you make all of this?"

Videl immediately caught him implications. With a glare, she answered "No, as a matter of fact I did not."

"Then where did this all come from? I don't know too many restaurants that give away a five course meal."

"First, it's not a five course meal, it's a four course," Videl snottily replied. "Second, I didn't get it at a restaurant. I found a little Ma & Pop store and the owner gave it to me."

A frown covered Gohan's face at that. "What's the name of this place? And where is it?"

Videl paused at that. "I…don't remember what that place was called." Resting her chin in the palm of one of her hands, her eyes rolled up to stare at the ceiling in what Gohan considered was the girl's thinking face. When ever she was really thinking of something, she always fell into this pose. "I know there was a sign on it, but I can't think of what it said."

Gohan immediately didn't like the sound of that. "And where did you find this place?"

Her eyes slide down to look at him. A moment later and a small grin grew onto her face. "That's a secret."

"So you want me to eat some food you got at a shop that you don't know what it's called and you won't tell me where it is," Gohan replied skeptically. "For some reason, the last thing I want to do is eat some food."

"Don't be a baby and eat. It'll be good for you. Besides, the cook told me that you'll feel better in the morning."

"Is that what you were told? And if I don't eat it?"

"Then I'll shove it down your throat. I paid a lot of money for this stuff and in case you have forgotten, we don't exactly have the time for you to heal the normal way. Now quit acting like a baby and eat your greens."

"You paid for this?" Gohan questioned. "And I'm guessing you bought all of this after you were told it would do wonders for me. Sounds like a scam to me."

Videl rolled her eyes. "Are you saying this won't work? Even before you try it? You shouldn't worry about that. If this doesn't work, I'll go kick the lady's butt for lying to me. But first, try it. That way you can be up and snapping the backs of all those vampires you so like to kill."

"Fine," he finally relented. "If it makes you happy, I'll try it. But if this is poisoned in any way, I am so blaming you for it."

He received another eye roll as he picked up his silverware. "What ever. I still don't get how you can have this amazing strength and reflexes, yet you can be beaten down by something as simple as food poisoning."

"Well, we can't have perfection, now can we?" Gohan shot back. "Most vampire hunters don't live long enough for disease or old age to get them. So an enhanced immune system was on the short list of expendables when the embodiment decided what it would and wouldn't need from host to host. Besides, diseases continually change over time, so immunity to one strain won't work against a radically different strain."

Videl raised a hand to stop him. "Please, spare me the geek-speak. I swear, you must work at a lab or something to know all this science stuff."

Deciding to not respond to that, Gohan shoved a fork full of food into his mouth. At first he didn't taste anything special about it. In fact, he had to say he had eaten better food. A couple seconds later, he found himself shoving in mouthfuls of the food, his stomach and taste buds demanding to have more. This…this was magnificent! Incredible! His tongue was exploding with flavors he never thought possible. His brain eventually caught up with his greedy hands and insatiable desire, but it was to say only one thing.

More!

Videl stared in rapt fascination as each bowl and plate was swept clean, leaving only smeared juices on their surfaces. Though he could feel her eyes on him, Gohan hardly cared. He wanted more, needed more. He never wanted this frenzy to end!

And it ended all too quickly. Before he knew it, every plate and bowl had been swept clean of anything that was edible. For a moment, Gohan felt lost, a saddening glint in his eyes as he stared at the empty dinnerware. Was that all the food there was? There had to be more, right? That just couldn't be nothing left! Jerking his head to Videl, he looked pleadingly at her, begging for more. "More…is there any more?"

Videl slowly turned to meet his gaze, an incredulous expression on her face. "But I gave you it all. There should have been leftovers from everything I gave you. I…how did you eat all of that?"

Gohan dropped his head and looked down at the cutlery resignedly. If only there was a little more. Just a small piece of fish or a few grains of rice.

It was several moments before Videl shook herself and stood up. Meticulously, she began stacking the plates and bowls on top of each other before picking them up and leaving the room with them. A few moments later she returned and picked up the table. Seeming to be back in charge, she then said "You better go to sleep. If the lady I bought this from is right, you should be as good as new by morning."

Gohan had calmed down from his feeding frenzy by that point and nodded his head in agreement. "I guess that would be best." It was odd. When he had been eating, it was like he could never get enough, but now that he had time to settle down, he almost had to ask himself where that had come from. He had never acted that way around food before, despite the fact that he did like food. He even considered himself a competent cook, but that…that had been something else.

Leaving the room, Videl leaned her shoulder against the light switch and moved herself up and down until finally she moved the switch and the lights went off. "Good night," she said as she disappeared from sight. Not seeing anything better to do, Gohan slowly moved himself back to lying on the bed and waited for sleep to come for him.

* * *

><p><em>Something was wrong.<em>

_He could feel it deep into the bones of his body. Something was off, changed, but not for the worst. Ever since he had taken on his current occupation of killing supernatural creatures, he had taken on subtle changes._

_For instance, though he considered himself a strong man, he was doing things that he hadn't been able to do previously. Hundred pound stones he had been able to lift, albeit strained; now he barely broke a sweat. Heck, he was working on two hundred pounders and he was beginning to sweat less and less each time he did so._

_Then there were his reflexes. This had been harder to notice, but after dodging several punches from a notorious ruffian, one who had taken pride in how fast he could beat his victims into submission, he had begun to suspect something was happening. That didn't even include his jumping. He was already a short man who could never dream of touching the topside of a doorway, but now he could leap up and grab onto the bottom branch of a tall tree. He had to be jumping several feet just to touch the branch, let alone grab it, but there he was doing that now._

_What the hell was happening to him?_

_Not that he wasn't grateful mind you. Had these changes not occurred, he'd probably be dead at this point, especially when he had encountered that werewolf. That thing had been faster than he had anticipated, though he did find its strength rather underwhelming._

_Yet, these weren't obtained by his own drive, his own progress. He was a very prideful man and he never liked having a helping hand in any and every form it could take. While he wouldn't toss such useful skills aside, it did grate on him that he had not obtained them on his own._

_Of course, there were times where he could brood on this. Now wasn't the time, especially as he raced between trees, trying to keep all of his senses on high alert. He was in a cat-and-mouse game with this obnoxious vampire and he didn't need the guy sneaking up on him at the moment._

_A flapping sound caught his attention, causing him to stop as his eyes roamed the wooded area. His ears almost twitched as he tried to locate the sound, biting back a curse when he turned up nothing._

"_You're not quite the man I was told you were, Monsieur Vegeta," an aristocratic voice called out, echoing throughout the trees. It wasn't staying in one place Vegeta noted. The voice and its words seemed to move about, bouncing off the trees to add further confusion. "In fact, I must say you're quite disappointing."_

_The sound of a twig snapping caught his ears, making him act on instinct as he whipped his body around, his dark cloak flying around him chaotically as one of his arms swung through the air, his hand releasing a silver-crafted knife, small letterings engraved into the metal. The knife flew threw the air in an instant, a slight whistling sound being made as it cut through the air, and disappeared into a bush, making a thud sound a second later. Not pausing, Vegeta spun his body behind the tree he stood next to, taking off into a run soon after. Passing a few more trees, he stopped behind another, larger tree. Pulling out two more knifes identical to the first one, Vegeta shoved his back roughly against the thick bark of the trunk, resuming his searching once more._

"_You almost got me with that one," the voice echoed again, this time sounding slightly impressed. "So you do have a little fight in you. That makes me glad. For a moment I thought you would be as entertaining as listening to that wench of mine. On and on, she incessantly speaks with nary an insightful comment. A perfect example for why a woman is best seen and not heard."_

_Vegeta remained silent. While he did enjoy his share of banter in a fight, he had more pressing needs to focus on. Like the fact that he was starting to get an idea as to where his quarry was. Just keep talking, you arrogant piss ant. Keep talking and make his job that much easier._

_Acting on instinct, Vegeta threw another knife, this time aiming it right about where his opponent would be. As the familiar whistling greeted his ears, he didn't stay to see if his aim was true or not. Flipping his other knife around in his hand, he took off running towards the tree in front of him, leaping up into the air and wrapping his hands around the lowest branch. A branch that was seven feet off the ground, he would have you know. Swinging his body forward, he placed one of his booted feet against the trunk and pushed himself up, his arms pulling himself up and moving down the branch until he wrapped his legs around it. With the right twisting of his body, he swung on top the branch and pushed himself up, standing on the branch at its base from the trunk and leaned his back once more on the tree. His breathing was heavier, his chest rising up and down as his sweat-laden cotton shirt emerged from his cloak and disappeared within it with every breath he took._

"_My, my, you were even closer!" the voice taunted. "I may have been wrong about you! You may actually touch me with those little toys of yours!"_

_Got him._

_Vegeta spun around the trunk of the tree, using nearby branches as stepping stones to move around it. Flipping the knife around once more, Vegeta arced his arm and swung the blade towards the tree. He felt the knife pierce something soft, follow by a sudden stop as the weapon imbedded into the trunk. An ear piercing scream rang out as Vegeta stared his prey down with a sinister-looking smirk on his face. Ha, now he had him pinned down. There was no more running for this guy now._

_Ahem, excuse him, he meant vampire._

_Reaching up, he grabbed the vampire by the side of his head and slammed it into the tree, causing a wild-sounding yelp to leave his lips from the blow. A long braided ponytail whipped around behind him, battering against the lush cape and expensive suit. "What was that about toys, Zarbon? I believe they're not as charming as they once were to you."_

"Baiseur,_" Zarbon spat at him. "It was only a moment's luck that you wounded me."_

_Using some of his added strength, Vegeta slammed his head against the tree a couple times, dazing the vampire. "Now that is no way to speak to your killer, now is it _mon ami_?" Reaching to a nearby branch, one that was thin and small, Vegeta grabbed it and with a jerk, snapped it off. As luck would have it, there was a nice point to it—a little round for his tastes but it would do for what he needed it for. Putting it up against Zarbon's chest, he began to dig the tip into his suit. "I'll be sure to speak to your teacher on your lack of etiquette; I'm sure he'll be very disappointed to hear about your lack of manners."_

_Then with a jerk, he stabbed his foe with the broken piece of wood, Zarbon giving a brief gasp as blood began to dribble from his mouth. His body spasm so strong, Vegeta almost thought he would break from his grip. However, once his eyes glazed over, he knew that he had been successful in his endeavor. Releasing his hold on him, he reached over and pulled his knife out of the tree and watched as Zarbon's body fell to the forest floor below, bouncing up once and falling to stay on the ground._

_Staring in disdain at him for a moment, Vegeta spat at him before deciding to take his leave. Hopping off the branch, he fell to the ground, landing on his feet in a crouch._

_When he stood up, he wasn't in a forest anymore. Instead he was in a hallway of a rundown building, its lack of maintenance evident by the stains on the cement walls and ceiling. He didn't like the look of the place. Yet it did do a fine representation of what a vampire was: uninviting, dank, and nauseating. Those feelings very well summed up what the blood-suckers were to him._

_And speaking of feelings, he was getting a strong vibe further down the hall. Slowly creeping along, he gripped his stake tighter, feeling more at ease as its comforting weight constantly reminded him of its presence. As he grew closer to where the vibe was coming from, he could detect voices, two of them if he were not mistaken. They grew louder the closer he came to them until he stopped at a slightly opened door. Peaking through the crack, he saw two figures. One was the back of a young man—he only guessed this because of his build and the commanding, masculine tone he spoke with. The other was a smaller woman, one who could be mistaken for a young girl to be frank. And she was being held off the ground by the man, his hand around her throat and her back against the wall. Her hands were clutched around his arm, trying to relieve the pressure on her windpipe._

_His eyes narrowed. He knew that girl. It was Videl. What the hell was she doing here? He was pretty sure he had told her not to come in here. Grrr, trust a woman not to listen to reason, even if it was for their own good._

_Listening to their conversation for a few seconds, he could make out that the man was angry with Videl, accusing her of betraying their kind, and such. Well, it seemed he realized their alliance, and it had only been for a couple months too._

_Pushing the door open, the hinges protesting loudly, he stormed into the room just as the man turned to look at him enraged. He barely got out the words "Who the—" from his mouth when he sent his stake flying through the air, impaling him right between the eyes._

_Instantly his hold on Videl disappeared as he crumbled to the floor, Videl falling to it next to him. He strode over to the two and kneeled down next to the man, jerking the stake from his forehead and stabbing it into his chest to make sure he was dead._

_In the meantime, Videl was rubbing her throat to ease the discomfort there. "Thanks," she rasped out. "I owe you…big time, Vanyel."_

_Gohan glared at her. "You shouldn't have to owe me anything if you had listened to me. What the hell possessed you to come in here after I explicitly told you not to?"_

_Videl's face flushed red in a combination of anger and embarrassment. "I don't take orders from you!"_

"_That's a shame. Had you listened to me in the first place, you wouldn't have ended up almost exposing us to all your vampire friends. Why don't you just hang a banner outside proclaiming that we're working together?"_

"_Alright! Alright! I made a mistake! It won't happen again!"_

"_You're right, it won't." Gohan glared harder at her, to put emphasis on his words. "_You_ will be staying at the apartment every time I go out to deal with these vampires. I can't risk the chance of this happening again. If you don't like it, I can assure that only one of us will be leaving this building breathing."_

_Turning away from her, he stalked out of the room, vaguely aware of his supposed partner boring holes in his back with her eyes. He didn't care how she felt about this action. He hadn't live this long by taking unnecessary risks and right now Videl was proving herself to be such a one. Any more mishaps like this and he was going to have to slay her earlier than expected._

* * *

><p>Gohan flexed his hand, his fingers curling into his palm and then sticking out. Not one bit of pain flared when he did this, something that he marveled at with each flex.<p>

That food had worked.

It was as if he had never been injured. He had woken up that morning feeling like a million bucks. The first thing he had noticed was the soreness in his torso had completely vanished. His breathing hadn't caused an occasional twinge of pain, and his hand had been begging to get out of the cast. So like any other person in his position, Gohan tore the cast off and had stared at his hand wondrously ever since.

Of course, Videl was sleeping at the moment, since the sun had risen and she wasn't one to stick around with all that light. She would have to wait until nightfall before she got to see the results of this magical healing.

But he couldn't stay in bed all day, especially when he wasn't nursing any of his wounds. Sliding his legs off the bed, he pushed himself off the mattress and looked himself over. He wasn't sure why he was doing that, but for some reason, he felt a little out of place. Something had changed and he couldn't put his finger on it. He was so reluctant to get out of bed in the mornings, usually groaning as he forced his slightly sore body from the bed. Yeah, he had days where he wasn't sore, but more times than not he was from his nightly job. Gohan had come to find stretching to be a very nice remedy for that, though it took some time for that feeling to vanish.

Wait a second, that was it! He didn't feel sore in the slightest! It was such a foreign feeling to him, he hadn't even noticed it. What was that food he had eaten? There had to be something put into it to create this effect. What was it though? Was it just some additive or was there something he needed to worry about?

Gohan shook his head. He was becoming too paranoid. He just needed to focus on what he knew so far: he was completely healed from his last battle and his body was in the best condition in years. Perhaps that's all he really needed to care about.

Debating with himself wouldn't change anything. Besides, there were more productive things for him to do. After three days of being off his feet, he had a lot of energy he needed to expel. He was already on sick leave for the time being, so he might as well get the most out of it. It was time to get back into his daily routine and prepare for tonight. He was ready to hit the streets again.


	12. Chapter 12

When a patient went to a hospital, they expected to find a well-maintained, up-to-date facility that would do anything to ensure they recover their health. That meant clean halls, very bright lights, competent workers, and high-tech machines that never went off even in the event of a power outage.

The Lamia Hospital was not such a place. While a hospital in name, that's all it was. While there was an effort to keep the walls and rooms clean and sterile, the lighting was pathetic. Heck, every other light fixture had either a dim bulb or a flickering one that was a flicker away from dying.

Well to be honest, this was only on this floor. Most of the floors that housed patients were actually kept to federal regulations. But this was the floor for…other medical practices. The ones that were kept off the books. The rooms themselves would be taken care of, but the hallways always were left to fend for themselves with what ever scraps the rooms gave them.

This hadn't been Gohan's first trip to this particular hospital. It wasn't even his second or third trip. And no, he wasn't going to give a specific number, though most of the time he wasn't checking himself in. Leave a body or two behind, yes, but never his body. Thankfully at least one of his predecessors had been well versed in an old dead language, so he definitely recognized the blatant signature of vampires. The name itself was the giveaway.

After having a whole day to think about that shipment of blood clotting drugs, Gohan had decided he needed to visit a hospital; this one to be precise. Since a hospital was a good source of obtaining blood, it was an ideal front to have. And if anyone had any idea about who was ordering the a drug specifically made to influence blood and how much of it was purchased, one of the vampires here would be that such person. Unless they owned more than one hospital. Then Gohan was going to be spending most of his night trying to find the right one and he really didn't want to do that.

Plus, he could only imagine how Videl would react to his absence at the apartment. Though she had a few lifetimes without his presence, for the last few years they had gotten into the habit of always informing the other of their activities. And when one of them went off on their own, it made their other very nervous. You know, because of their little pact and all.

But due to his unusual amount of energy, Gohan had left the apartment in the middle of the afternoon and made his way to this hospital, waiting for the sun to set. You couldn't reasonably expect a vampire to be working in the middle of the day after all.

So this was where Gohan found himself, traveling the poorly lit corridors of the Lamia. He had already checked three rooms already and found absolutely nothing in them, or at least nothing that concerned him. Reaching a door that was cracked opened, Gohan peered through the crack, finding it pitch black inside. With a quick look around to make sure he hadn't been spotted, Gohan slowly opened the door and slid inside, closing the door until it had been right where he had found it. Turning around, he lifted a hand to search the wall next to the door, finding a panel full of switches soon after. Flicking a couple of them on, the room filled with light, revealing it to be an abnormally large janitor closet. Seriously, the room could have been someone's bedroom, though the metal shelves full of cleaning supplies did take away from the appeal. Noticing a door directly to his left, Gohan silently walked to it, finding it to be a small bathroom. It was clean enough, though apparently someone was trying to save on the water bill since something was mellowing in the toilet. Well, this room was another bust. Time to move on to the next one.

Going back to the door, Gohan flicked off all of the lights and pulled the door open, taking a step out when one of the doors down the hall swung open. Retreating back into the janitor closet and returned the door back to its original place once more, Gohan heard a loud, boisterous voice echo throughout the halls. "I said run the test again! How many times do I have to say it to get it through your head? _Imbécile_!" Gohan then heard a door slam shut, followed by footsteps, each one growing louder. So who ever this screamer was, he was coming right to him.

The mystery person, a man from what he could tell, was muttering to himself, about what he didn't know. Steeling himself, Gohan waited until the man was right in front of the door when he swung it open noiselessly—someone had really taken care to oil those hinges, he had to say—strode a couple of steps to get behind the man, and put him into a headlock. Immediately, the man began to struggle, trying to get out of his grip, any cries he could help being choked off due to the young man's arm constricting around his neck. He wouldn't be going to anywhere in this century, Gohan would make certain of it. Dragging his prey back, he then tossed him into the janitor's closet and walked in himself just as a loud banging sound occurred from the man colliding with the shelves. Closing the door behind him, the young man made sure to lock it, just in case, and turned on a light switch.

As light flooded the room once more, Gohan got a look at his captive. He had to say, the guy wasn't much. Short, chunky, a receding hairline, and thin wire glasses were the first things he noticed about the guy. The second was that familiar sign of evil he saw with every vampire he came across.

Perfect.

The man was just turning around, his white lab coat ruffling with him as he did when Gohan closed the distance between the two of them and grabbed him by the coat. With a quick shove, he slammed the man's back into the shelf behind him, a loud rattling sound occurring. "Hello doctor, I have some questions for you and you're just the man I need to answer them."

"Who the hell are you?" the doctor demanded, to which Gohan returned a stone-faced expression. Then he spun the guy around and rammed him forward. As it so happened, one of the shelf bottoms was at the perfect height to be pressed right into his neck, causing the doctor to gag.

"I'm sorry, you don't get to ask the questions here," Gohan finally said, grabbing one of the man's arms and pulling it behind him. As he pressed the arm into the small of his captive's back, he then lifted it, putting stress on his elbow and shoulder joints. "Do we have an understanding?"

"You don't know who you're dealing with!" the doctor declared. Apparently he didn't understand. Relieving the pressure on the man's arm, Gohan then jerked the arm up once more with even more force. This caused the man to let out a cry of pain.

"And I can say the same to you, blood sucker." At that, the man stiffened. "Now, unless you want me to dislocate your shoulder, or worse dislocate your shoulder, leave you as a blubbering mess while I break the handle of that mop in the corner, and shove the broken shaft into your chest cavity, you will answer my questions."

"Yo-you're a vampire hunter…" the man half stated, half asked. Well, Gohan was a nice guy by nature, or so he thought, so he let that half question go.

"Yep, and as you can probably guess, I know about seven different ways to make your last moments on Earth very miserable. So, are you ready to cooperate?"

There was a slight pause before he heard "Wh-what do you want to know?"

There, that was better. With a nod of his head in satisfaction, Gohan asked "First off, what's your name? And what are you doing here at this very late…excuse me, very early hour for you?"

"I…I'm Dr. Jack Baisser, top researcher for…uhh, the hospital. I run all of the medical tests for the hospital."

"And my second question?"

"I…I can't tell you that…"

"Let me guess, you'll be killed if you tell me."

The man merely nodded his head. "And if I told you I'll kill you if you don't tell me what I want to know?" Gohan pressed. The doctor stiffened again with the occasional tremble. It was odd; this Baisser guy had been so defiant when he had been forced into this room and now he was a meek little rodent. Either he was all bluster and no substance or…wait, what was that smell? Looking down, Gohan could see a nice little puddle beginning to form at their feet. Oh great, they hadn't gotten through the second question and he was already pissing himself. Not a very strong constitution this one had.

"So who's the guy that will kill you if you talk?" Gohan tried then. Upon not receiving an answer, he frowned. The guy was really starting to shake. Putting more pressure on his arm, he finally made a sound as he yelped in pain.

"I can't!" he cried out, a little louder than needed. Gohan's eyes narrowed at that. Did this guy think if he raised his voice loud enough, someone could hear him and come to his rescue? Hmm…maybe that was very well the case. He had no idea how thin the walls were. "If I talk, there's no telling what he'll do to me if he finds me!"

"So you're dead if you do, dead if you don't," Gohan mused. Again, Baisser fell silent. Well, guess he needed to up the ante. Roughly, he swung the petrified doctor around and forced him to the bathroom. Somehow turning on the light, he then forced the man to his knees and bent his head over the john. "Well, now you have a new problem, doc. As you can probably see, the last person to use this room wasn't too concerned with proper toilet etiquette. So, do you want to face the probability of a torturous death or would you like the undignified demise of being staked with your face submerged in used toilet water? The choice is yours."

The doctor cried in dismay. "I've…I've been ordered to run blood tests on a blood clotting drug!" he finally confessed.

Apparently dignity was more important to this guy than extreme pain. Admittedly, the toilet wasn't exactly a good threat unless you were going to drown someone in it, but there really was something people had against pee. For that, Gohan was thankful; it made his job that much easier. "See, now that wasn't so hard. Now, what does your boss want to know about blood clotting?"

"He said the Council of Shadows ordered it. Didn't seem happy about it at all."

So the Council was behind the shipment. Puzzling. "So would you know anything about that shipment of Celox?" he ventured.

"Which one? I've had to place several orders of them from all over the country. They're all going to one place but no one really knows where. And anyone that starts to get curious ends up being the proverbial cat, without the extra lives."

Before Gohan could ask his next question, he heard the sound of the doorknob rattling from the other room. Looking through the restroom doorway, he watched as the lock turned and the door opened. A tan man walked into the room looking puzzled until he looked right at Gohan and the doctor. Gohan and the man, a janitor by the look of it stared at each other for a second, and the next thing the young man knew, the janitor had yelled something in a foreign language and launched himself at him. Releasing his hold on the doctor, Gohan barely got his hands up to defend himself as the janitor tackled him.

Slamming into the wall, a pair of strong arms tightening around his chest and arms and raising him into the air, Gohan barely caught sight of the doctor's head emerging from the toilet, coughing and gagging. Must've pushed him in when he was tackled. His attention, however, was drawn back to the janitor, who had a look of hatred on his face that would've scared the piss out of a lesser man—like the doctor. It was a good thing he had used the bathroom before coming into the hospital as well.

However, just as he had seen in the doctor, Gohan saw the sign of evil on him and knew what he had to do. First, not have his ribs crushed into his lungs again. Then he could kill him. Yet he had a slight problem; with his arms pinned against his torso, he couldn't exactly get free without using a crap ton of his strength, and he would surely need plenty of it once he did get free.

So it was with sad regret that Gohan had to resort to his very, _very_ last option. He didn't like doing this, but considering it was either that or his insides became a mash of indistinguishable slop, he decided he would just have to deal with the consequences later. Putting strength into his arms, he began to slowly push them out, giving him some breathing room in the janitor's deadly hug. Both men's faces were turning red from their opposite physical expenditures. Then drawing a leg up, Gohan swung it forward and hit a very soft spot on the man's body.

Immediately, the janitor's arms went limp, dropping Gohan down as his feet landed on the floor. Forcing his own arms out, the janitor stumbled backwards, his face a twist of pain and even more pain. Agony even. Intent on relieving the man of his suffering, Gohan threw a punch to his face, followed by a stronger, second fist. That punch sent the man flying into the other room, crashing into and denting the shelving and collapsing to the ground, several items from the shelf falling with him. Striding into the room, Gohan grabbed the mop he had mentioned earlier and picked it up. Holding it with both hands, he then brought his knee up and snapped the handle into two pieces against it. Dropping the heavier end, Gohan then bent down and grabbed the janitor's shoulder, turning him until he lay on his stomach. Bringing up the broken mop handle, he then jabbed it down, impaling the man. The janitor gave out a cry, gritting his teeth as he tried to overcome the pain he felt, succumbing to it a couple moments later.

Letting out a sigh, Gohan looked back to the bathroom and froze as he noticed the absence of the doctor. Looking around the closet, he couldn't find hide nor hair of the man. Just great, he escaped. Growling, Gohan left the closet and began making his way through and out of the hospital. It would seem he had overstayed his welcome.

* * *

><p>If Gohan had been married, he would have half expected Videl to be waiting by the front door in one of those fluffy robes, her hair in curlers, and her feet in bunny slippers, tapping impatiently for him to come back. It was a good thing he wasn't married since that would have just been bizarre, though the fact he ran into the girl waiting by the door with one of her feet tapping was concerning. "And where have you been Mr. Black and Blue? Decided an evening jog would have cured you of a punctured lung, hm? Maybe a walk to the store for eggs and milk would do your hand wonders? In case you have forgotten, you aren't exactly anonymous anymore. Any vampire with half a brain can recognize you now!"<p>

Gohan rolled his eyes as he closed the door behind him. "You know, that little speech would work better if that food you gave me didn't work."

Videl perked up at that. "It actually worked? Let me see." Immediately, her hands shot out and grabbed his formerly injured hand, inspecting as she repeatedly put pressure on it, looking from his hand to his face to see if he were reacting in anyway. Dropping his hand, she began poking him in the ribs, trying to see if they were in anyways damaged. Unfortunately, due to his earlier encounter, he winced slightly from the jabs. "Oh, so it didn't heal everything," she stated, her eyes narrowed. "But she said you'd be completely healed. What a jip."

"Actually…" Gohan began uneasily, "I got this tonight."

Videl was silent for a few seconds before she nearly exploded. "You got hurt already? What the hell were you doing? Daring cars to hit you as hard as they could on the interstate? Seriously, what was the point in finding you that miracle food only for you to get hurt by the end of the next day?"

"It was for a good cause?" Gohan offered.

"Oh really, and what kind of cause was it? Were you saving the environment or something? Maybe you got in the way of a bunch of drunken sailors on their way to club some baby seals? Really, tell me what exactly makes hurting yourself so worth it."

"I went to the Lamia Hospital," he started, immediately getting Videl's attention. "I found a doctor who had been placing larger orders for the Celox we found. Apparently the Council is behind the orders."

"The Council? But what do they want with that stuff?"

Gohan shrugged at that. "From what the doctor told me, the reason is very hush-hush. Anyone that's looked into it has been killed, so everyone who has even a bit role keeps their noses out of anything other than what they've been ordered to do."

"This just gets more and more complicated," Videl said, her eyes losing their focus as she seemed to stare into space. Then they refocused and looked right at Gohan. "Was there anything else?"

"No, not really. It was at that point we were interrupted and I almost had my ribs crushed again. I had to get out of there shortly after."

"I guess that's a good enough reason," he heard the girl grumble reluctantly. "So what do we do now? We've stumbled upon this conspiracy and for every answer we get, more questions pop up." She began to scowl. "This is really starting to annoy me."

"Well, we can only do one thing at this point: get to the bottom of it. Isn't there usually some bad guy that knows the whole thing and ends up gloating about it right before he gets killed?"

Videl stared at him for a moment. Finally, she said "You watch too many movies, you know that?"

"But isn't that how it works?"

"Gohan, for a guy that says movies have given the wrong impression of vampire hunters, how could you believe that some arrogant bad guy would just willingly tell us everything we want to know? I mean, really."

"Just because I know they're wrong about me, doesn't mean they're wrong about you."

"And how much from those movies have turned out to be true?" she asked, an eyebrow raised in irritation.

"Well, not much," Gohan admitted.

"Exactly. Now think for once and figure out what the hell is going on with the vampires." Rubbing her temples to calm herself down, she then added "Tell me what that doctor guy told you again. Everything he said until you had to beat up a janitor."

Gohan shifted his posture as he crossed his arms across his chest, his head tilting up to look at the ceiling as he recalled the interrogation. "First he demanded to know who I was, then if I knew who he was. Then he told me his name and what he did at the hospital." He frowned there. "He seemed hesitant about what he exactly did there, but I pried that out of him later. Something about running tests with the coagulant."

"Why were they running the tests?" Videl asked curiously.

Gohan shook his head. "He never said. He just mentioned the Council ordering the tests and that anyone that grew curious as to their reasons were killed. The only things he was involved with were the tests and shipping the coagulant around." His eyes widened as his voice began to rise with vigor. "And there was something else too. That there were multiple shipments, but…what was it?"

He began to pace about, tearing his mind apart as he tried to remember what had been said in that conversation. It had been said so indifferently that he hadn't paid much attention to it at the time. "What was it!" he yelled frustrated, Videl staring at him as he moved about. "There were the shipments all over the country, no one knew where they were all going, then people dying." Finally his head shot up. "They're all going to one place! That's it!"

Videl tilted her head as she tried to process his ramblings. "So let me get this straight: there are several different shipments going on and they're all going to the same place?" And then it occurred to her what had occurred to Gohan moments before. Then that warehouse isn't the final destination! They're going to be moving it somewhere else!"

"And there were a lot of boxes in there," Gohan added excitedly. "So it's going to take several nights to move all of them to the next stop, if not the final stop. And we can tail them all the way there since they think their only obstacle has been dealt with."

"You think they'll still be moving after three nights though?" Videl asked. "I mean, the building wasn't that large and I really doubt they just left the shipment there for some time after that counteragent nearly killed you. They would have started the next phase the next night. They could be done by now!"

"Then we have to go check," Gohan stated, moving towards his room. "I'm going to grab a couple things. You be ready to go in five minutes."

"You think you're going to get into another fight already?" Videl asked, a small grin appearing on her lips.

"Already too late for that. But you can never be too prepared," he said with a shrug, disappearing into his room. This time, he was going to be ready for what ever they found at that warehouse. There was not going to be a repeat occurrence of the last time. He would make sure of that.


	13. Chapter 13

As it turned out, the trip had been uneventful. Apparently they had given the vampires a little too much credit to move their shipment as all of it was still sitting in that warehouse. Even more absurd was that they had a shipping order plastered on each crate, indicating that they were trying to be legal with the whole thing. It was almost funny how legit they were running this operation of theirs.

According to the shipping orders, the shipment wasn't due for transport for another two days, so the two had left the warehouse and made their way back to the apartment. Well, correction, Videl had taken Gohan back to the apartment.

She had a quick errand she needed to run before the sun came out.

"How clumsy is this friend of yours?" Chichi asked as she stood in her kitchen, preparing the next batch of cure-all food the vampire girl sought. "I mean, how can someone get hurt less than a day after getting well? Is he some kind of masochist?"

"He could be," Videl answered, standing at the kitchen doorway once more, leaning against the frame comfortably. "I honestly believe he can't go a full day without some sort of injury."

"He must be some kind of delinquent," the witch mused, stirring a large pot of something. Stew maybe, or soup; Videl couldn't really tell. All she knew was that it was bubbling and smell awfully good. "If I may ask, how did he get hurt this time? Not the stairs again, I hope."

"No, this time he got into a fight. Someone tried to break his ribs by squeezing him to death or something. He was really vague about that part. But like an idiot, he tried to make himself out to be all macho and said 'but you should have seen the other guy.'"

"Definitely a delinquent," Chichi muttered. "I might have to cut you off of this. Though you can heal him, I'm afraid there's no cure for stupidity."

Videl chuckled at that. "I guess it's too late for him. Perhaps I should just keep this food for myself, just in case I get hurt."

A comfortable silence fell over the two women. Videl took this time to watch this unknown witch of hers. The first time they had met, she had made the observation that she was a motherly woman, a thought only being reinforced with every visit she made since then. That would have made this the third visit, which was enough to create a pleasant atmosphere between them. Yet, she was beginning to wonder why this woman wasn't a mother by now. Was there some reason she had chosen not to become a mother or had she tried without success?

"Do you have a question, dear?" Chichi spoke up, not taking her eyes off her stove. Startled, Videl jerked her head to look the woman in the eye, finding that difficult when she only saw the side of her face. "You can ask it. I don't mind."

Gulping, Videl tried to ask her question in the best way possible. "I've noticed you seem like a…motherly woman. I was just wondering if you had a family."

At the moment of the question, Chichi had been stirring her cooking pot. The moment the question was finished, her arm froze, her eyes widening as she comprehended what was asked of her. Releasing her hold on her stirring rod…spoon…thing, she slowly turned to Videl, wiping her hands against the apron she wore. "Yes, I did have a family," she spoke hesitantly, whispered even. "But that was…a long time ago."

"I…I'm sorry," Videl apologized. "I didn't mean to stir up any old memories."

Chichi sighed. "It's alright dear. You didn't mean any offense. I thought I had managed to get over it by now, but I guess I haven't."

"Do you mind me asking what happened?"

Chichi looked up at the ceiling, staring at it intently. For a moment, Videl could have sworn she had seen an action like that before, from where she didn't know, but it was really familiar. "I had a husband and a little boy, the most beautiful boy you had ever seen. It was just the three of us living in a little house in the country." A small smile appeared on her face as unshed tears began to build up around her eyes, making them shimmer in the light of the kitchen. "It was the best time of my life. My husband was a strong, kind man. And my son, he was so smart. It was like living a dream." Then her smile disappeared. "Then my husband became very ill. I still don't know what it was, but it ruined his heart. He died within days of becoming sick. The same day my son ran away. He and his father had been very close and I thought he had wanted to be alone. I didn't realize what had happened until that night when he didn't come back. I've been searching for him ever since."

Reacting on instinct, Videl walked over to the woman and held her arms out. Instinctively, Chichi reciprocated the gesture and the two women stood in her kitchen hugging each other. Videl did her best to comfort the older woman, who was shaking in her arms with repressed sorrow. Even now, Chichi was trying to restrain herself, only limiting herself to the tremors Videl felt. Every action had been instinctive, something the younger woman was very good at acting on.

The witch's grip then suddenly tightened on her, a sob tearing out of her mouth as Videl felt a couple of wet spots grow on the shoulder of her shirt. Videl didn't release her hold on the woman, letting her release her raw emotions.

It was some time later that the two finally parted, Chichi rubbing one of her eyes against her eyes to wipe away some lingering tears. "I'm sorry about that," she apologized embarrassed. "I don't usually get so worked up like that."

"We all have to cry sometimes," Videl replied soothingly. "If you don't want to talk about it anymore, it's alright."

Returning to her cooking, Chichi said "I told you the difficult part so I don't see any reason not to continue."

"So there's more?"

"Of course there is. It's not like I gave up on my son when he disappeared. I went looking for him all over the place. I'm still looking for him."

Videl returned to leaning against the doorframe as she soaked in that claim. "And your search brought you here? How did you manage to follow him all this time?"

"Well, being a witch does have its benefits," Chichi said offhandedly. "My teacher in the dark arts pointed me in the right direction after my lessons were complete. Unfortunately, the old windbag was too lazy to do more than that—you know, like magic me to where my son would be. I almost ran into him though and managed to put a tracking spell on everyone within the area. Fortunately, there were only a handful of people there, but they all had the urge to go to the far corners of the Earth for some reason."

"Maybe it's part of the spell?" Videl offered. "As I understand it, magic usually demands some sort of price for its usage."

"You may be right about that," the witch agreed. "Though there are spells that can be used without strings. My teacher knew some of them." Here, Chichi's voice began dripping with disdain. "But she found it hilarious to hint at teaching me them, then pretending she was going senile on the subject."

"It sounds like you had a difficult teacher."

Chichi gave her a look. "You have no idea. She was a powerful witch, but when it came to people skills, she would have a hard time making friends with a three year old. And there was also the fact that she couldn't create a cooking spell to save her life. I can't tell you how many times I had to threaten her with missing dinner just to get her to teach me something."

"So what made you leave?"

"When I felt that I had no more to learn from her. Or maybe because I got tired of dragging out every spell she knew—I'm not too sure which one to be honest. But I'm here now, a couple more people away from finding my child and finishing this search."

"So you only have a couple people left to check?"

"No, there's a few more. I just know there are two people that have my spell attached to them in this city."

Videl frowned. "But if you know they're here, why aren't you out looking for them?"

"Well, I have to find some place to stay while I search, you know. A city is a huge place to search, like looking for a needle in a haystack. The spell I casted wasn't strong enough to pinpoint their specific locations—all it does is tell me I'm close by. So I have to physically look for these people, but I also have to generate some sort of money in order to stay here."

"Thus the store," Videl concluded.

"Correct." By this point, Chichi was pulling out various containers and setting them on her countertops. Apparently the food was done or just about to be. "I just got into town too, so it'll be a couple more days before I'm ready to go looking."

"Well, I hope you find him here," Videl said with a smile. "If you need any help, let me know. I'd gladly lend you a hand."

"I might just take you up on that." Chichi then turned to scooping in large amounts of food into the containers. "Besides, it might be useful to have a vampire searching during the night."

Videl froze, looking at the witch with wide eyes. Upon hearing the silence, Chichi looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "You thought I hadn't noticed? The only time you see me is at night, not to mention you sometimes have stains on your teeth. Blood red stains." At this Videl tucked her lips into her mouth, an unconscious action to hide her already hidden teeth. "Oh, don't act like that. If I thought you were going to be using me as food, I would have gotten rid of you the night we met."

"I…sorry, I'm not used to having people accept me."

"Bad experience?"

"The last person to find out tried to kill me."

"Bad experience."

Finishing the container she was working on by sealing it with its top, Chichi then said "Don't worry dear, I won't go around telling everyone who you are, or try to dispose of you." She paused for a moment in thought. "Except if you interfere with my search. But otherwise, you have nothing to fear from me."

Videl nodded her head in thanks. "Thank you. It's not the most glamorous thing being what I am, especially when you run into a couple of vampire hunters."

"Can't fault them for what they do anymore than you can fault you for what you do," Chichi replied sagely.

Yes, you couldn't fault them or her.

* * *

><p>"Poor woman," Gohan commented as he sat at the table, munching on miracle food. "She sounds incredible for doing what she's doing."<p>

"She is," Videl agreed. "She's given up so much just to get this far, I don't know if I could do the same. Learning the dark arts, hunting down unknown people that could possibly be my child." Videl then gave Gohan a look. "You're not going to go kill this woman because she's using magic are you?"

Gohan shrugged his shoulders in response, paying more attention to the last bits of his meal at the bottom of his bowl. "She's not using what she knows to hurt people, so I have no need to stop her. Though if people do begin to suffer, I will have to step in."

Videl sighed. "You can't let her just find her son and leave, regardless of how she does it?"

"It's not my job to see the gray in life. If someone gets hurt, I have no choice but to make sure it doesn't happen again. I mean, vampires are only drinking blood for survival and I have to slay every one I find because they can end up killing the victim. If we went with the emotional side of survival, I wouldn't be hunting them all, just the ones that purposely hurt others."

"I guess you're right," she admitted reluctantly. Turning her attention away, part of her couldn't help but think of her own family. After hearing the witch's crumbling one, she had begun thinking of hers from way back when. All of them were dead and she hadn't kept touch with any of their descendants, completely cutting herself off from them. Which was well and good since it would have been very hard to explain how she still looked like a young woman.

"Kinda makes you think of your own family, doesn't it?" she asked out loud.

She sensed Gohan slowing down his movements until he came to a stop. He was silent for awhile before he responded with "Yeah, it does a little."

Finally turning to him, she then asked "What was your family like?"

Gohan's face was blank, his eyes unfocused as he looked into space. "It was nice. I remember being very happy growing up," he finally said. "Then one day I left the house and didn't go back."

Videl frowned. "Why didn't you go back?"

At this he sighed. "I was out…doing something when the embodiment possessed me. It just came out of nowhere and took over. I went crazy when that happened and lost myself. It was months later that I came to my senses. I was in the middle of some forest with no idea where I was. It took even longer to figure out who I was and what had happened to me."

Videl stared at him with wide eyes. She had always heard of him being some successor of this Van Helsing thing, but to learn that it was an actual presence was surprising. A separate entity that came and went as it wished and apparently Gohan was its latest stop. "So then what? How long did it take for you to figure out this…thing was inside of you?"

"Little more than a year," Gohan answered, leaning back in his chair with his hands resting behind his head, the food forgotten. "It all came back in pieces. My life, what I did in that forest, and what the embodiment went through. When ever I had a dream, it always bled into some memory of someone it had possessed before. After seeing what all of these men did, I felt it was my fate to follow in their footsteps. So figuring that I was destined to be good at fighting the supernatural, I went headfirst into a fight with the first creature I could find. Turned out to be a goblin."

"How did that turn out?"

At this, Gohan chuckled. "Nearly had my head bashed in with a rock. Barely escaped with my life."

A grin was on Videl's face. "So then you went into some intense training that made you the guy you are now?"

"Nope, I stayed away from the fights for a long time. Instead I just followed evil creatures around and sabotaging what they were up to. I didn't get into another fight until I accidently picked up a log, like those ones you see cowboys sitting on in those movies."

At this, Videl cocked an eyebrow. "How do you 'accidently' pick up a log?"

"Well, I was being chased by a vampire at the time. I tripped and fell against it, just in time for the guy to laugh at me before saying how he was going to kill me. Scared, I grabbed at it and wanted to put it between him and me when I moved it. At first I thought it wasn't as heavy as it looked, so I picked it up and swung it at him like a bat. Ended up hitting a home run with him."

"I kinda find it hard to believe hitting him with a big piece of wood would kill him."

"He landed onto a fencepost. The first vampire I had ever killed."

"That must have been a shock to you."

"It was," he admitted. "At first I thought he was playing opossum. So then I set him on fire to make sure he was dead. He was."

Videl just stared at the guy. Here he was, telling this story of being alone and trying to live up to this legacy that chose him for some reason and what does he do? Says that he went overboard killing his first vampire. Truly, he was a sympathetic character…

Rubbing her forehead, she decided to move the conversation on. "So why did this embodiment choose you? Out of all the people on the planet, why you?"

Gohan shrugged, moving back to inspect what ever leftover food there was. "It must have some reason. Everyone that it's been apart of has lived up so some expectation, so it must feel I can too. Oddly enough, it always chooses young boys."

"Young boys?"

"Yeah, part of me thinks they're more susceptible to its possession or something like that. I mean, I went crazy when it first got a hold of me, so it obviously takes time for it to get acclimated with its host. I can't imagine what it tried to do with fully grown men or women."

"And what does the other part of you think?"

"It likes getting into little boys."

"That sounds so wrong."

Gohan seemed more interested in the cutlery at that moment to give her a reply. It wasn't long for him to give a big sigh in satisfaction. "Has this friend of yours ever thought of opening a restaurant? I think she could run everyone in the city out of business."

"I'll be sure to pass the compliment," Videl said as she got up, moving to clean some of the dishes off. Starting at the opposite side that Gohan was, she bent over slightly, reaching out to some dishes closer to the middle. Due to her wearing a baggy shirt, which meant the collar was quite large, she gave Gohan a view of her cleavage.

It was a moment later as she looked up to see her roomie looking down her shirt that she realized what had happened. In fact, he was staring right at her without embarrassment. Well, she just needed to change that. With a coy smile, she spoke up "Do you like what you see?"

"Hmm?" was all he said, not once moving his eyes.

Odd. Shouldn't he have jerked away, red in the face from embarrassment? "Yoohoo, oh Gohan!" she called out in a sing-song voice. That seemed to bring him out of what ever daze he was in as he slowly came back to reality.

"Huh? What is it Videl?"

"You seemed to be distracted by something," she said, her eyes gleaming. "I guess I managed to wear down those defenses of yours."

That caused Gohan to frown. "Defenses? Distractions? What are you—" He came to a stop the moment his eyes fell upon her cleavage. Comically, his eyes went wide, his face burning up within a second before jerked his head away. "I-I-I don't know wh-what you're t-talking about," he sputtered out."

There, that had been the reaction she'd been after. A bit delayed, she'd admit, but maybe he was getting used to her teasing. Maybe. Straightening up, she walked over to him, a smirk growing wider on her face as she saw him avert his eyes to anywhere but her. Extending a hand, she patted him on the cheek and said "Don't worry, it'll be our little secret."

Turning back, she picked up the stack of dishes she had gathered and went into the kitchen, leaving Gohan to his growing embarrassment.


	14. Chapter 14

Hey guys, just wanted to give y'all a shout out here. Since I doubt I'll have another chapter up before the 25th, I just wanted to wish y'all a Merry Christmas, Happy Hannakah, and Happy Holidays. Here's my present to all of you, so enjoy.

* * *

><p>"Got any fours?" Videl asked, her cards fanned out before her face.<p>

"Go fish," Gohan replied, his own cards in front of him. Upon hearing that, Videl reached out to the stack of cards resting on the center consol, staring at her new card, then joining it with the rest of her hand. "Got any Jacks?"

"Go fish."

Drawing a card, a small smile appeared on Gohan's face upon seeing the seven. "Got one," he proclaimed as he set the new pair on the dashboard, Videl frowning. "That makes my second pair."

"Yeah, yeah," she grumbled. "But we've only just started this game. Plenty of time for me to kick your scrawny butt."

Gohan just grinned at her before turning to look out the back window of Videl's car. A few blocks down, four trucks were idling outside of the vampire's hidden warehouse, loading them each with the shipments of Celox. The trucks had just gotten there about half an hour ago.

Videl and Gohan had been there for nearly three hours.

Between arriving, grabbing something to eat, and now starting their tenth game of Go Fish, the two of them had been bored out of their minds. The only thing that saved their sanity—or so they believed—was seeing the approaching headlights of the trucks. Like school children, they had gotten excited and stared with baited breath as the trucks were unloaded with men and replaced with large woodened crates inside of the trucks. And also like school children, they had quickly become bored with watching manual labor and had gone back to their little amusements.

"Got any twos?" Videl inquired, her eyes focusing on Gohan. Grimacing, he pulled out a card and handed it to her, Videl lighting up with glee. "Now, how about Queens?"

His grin came back. "Go Fish."

Videl blew air out of her mouth in irritation. Taking her turn to look at the working vampires, she asked out loud "How long are those idiots going to take? I swear, they're taking their time on purpose just to drive us crazy."

Gohan chuckled at that. "Maybe that's what they're doing? They think the longer they take with loading the trucks, the more time we have to go out of our minds and they can leave us in their dust as we try to figure out why our imaginary friends are trying to drive our parked car."

"Ha, ha," Videl deadpanned. "You're such a funny guy. You should consider leaving your day job to be a comedian. You'd knock every one dead with your talents. Do you have any eights?"

Gohan was just about to answer her when something occurred to him. "Hey, it's my turn!"

"Then do your turn already. You're holding up the game."

"Do you have any eights?"

Videl paused before scowling. "That's not fair!" she shouted before flinging the offending card at him.

The card smacked the young man in the chest and fluttered into his lap harmlessly. Triumphantly he picked the card up and matched it with his own card and placed them with his other pairs. "That should teach you to skip other people's turns," he said smugly, fanning out his shrinking hand. "Got any Aces?"

"Go. Fish," Videl gritted out.

It was then that the car was flooded with light, dimming down only slightly before growing brighter. The purring engines of the trucks filled their ears as the trunks themselves passed next to them. Surprised the two just stared owlishly as each trunk drove by, heading down the street at a leisurely pace.

Jerking their heads back, the trucks they had been complaining about were missing, leading them to believe that their quarry had drove right passed them as they were idiotically irritating one another. Jerking back, they stared out the front window, trying to process what had just happened.

"How did we miss them getting ready to leave?" Videl finally asked, her voice sounding perplexed.

"I have no clue," Gohan replied, feeling the same way. "I guess our game is—"

"Postponed," Videl interrupted. "We are _so_ not done with this. When we get done, we are starting right where we left off and you better not try to weasel your way out of it. Now clean up your side. I don't want to have all these cards flying about."

"Yes ma'am," Gohan said, picking up his pairs and hand and setting them inside Videl's glove box. With her own cards and the deck, the vampire girl set them inside her center console, starting her car up moments later before taking off after their runaway trucks.

Keeping their distance, the two kept up with the trucks, following them until they left the city limits. It was there that Videl spoke up. "This is the way to the mansion," she said, frowning in confusion. Gohan looked to her at that. Was she not aware of safe houses in this area? Or was there some other importance he did not know about? While his knowledge of what mansion life was extremely limited—and something he would need to correct at a future date—he was under the impression that if a vampire wanted something to be protected, the mansion was just the place to go.

"Is it possible that they're going to use the mansion as a storage center?" Gohan questioned. Considering what he knew of this shipment, the mansion would be a good place to store something of this sort of secrecy, at least if you wanted to keep outside eyes off of it. They already had the security to keep trespassers in place and most likely some sort of contingent in the surrounding area for prior notice. They could end up losing this shipment's trail at that place.

"It's as good of a place as any," Videl answered, still frowning. "I mean, the place does have enough secret chambers stashed about. But they've gone to so much trouble to keep this thing a secret and there are too many vampires there for something large not to go unnoticed. I don't think the mansion is where they're going."

He had almost forgotten about that. And to think it was him who had gotten that piece of information. Gohan needed to get his head into this game, this wasn't the time for spacing. "Good point," he eventually replied, watching the taillights as they glowed in the darkness.

Eventually, the trucks pulled off onto a gravel side road, ending their trek to the mansion, or so Videl informed him. It wasn't until the trucks came to a small, dingy-looking shack that the trucks came to a stop, the only thing surrounding it was random scatterings of brush. Turning off her headlights, Videl eased the car to a stop, turning the engine off soon after. "Recognize this place?" Gohan asked.

Videl shook her head. "No, never seen it before."

Staring at the shack, Gohan noticed a problem right off the bat. "That shack is too small for the cargo they have."

"I noticed that too," Videl agreed. "Perhaps there's some kind of underground facility."

"That's the only way they could store it." Sighing, Gohan released his seatbelt and moved to open the door. "Turn the car around. I'm going to check it out."

Videl cocked an eyebrow at him. "You think you're going to need a quick getaway."

"Probably. Knowing my luck, there's going to be an army of vampires down there and the only way out is to blow the place sky high."

"I really hope you're joking," he heard her mutter as he opened the door, closing it soon after as he moved as silently as he could towards the shack. Keeping to the brush, he closed in on the trucks, seeing the vampires unloading the trucks and disappearing into the crude shelter. Watching, Gohan noticed a long interval where most of the vampires would be inside the shack before a large group of them would show up. When they left with several of the crates, only three vampires were left with the trucks, hanging around the back of the one they were clearing out. Their voices were just barely reaching him, though it didn't matter much since they were just chatting idly.

When the next wave of vampires returned and once again disappeared into the shack, Gohan moved closer until he was up against the hood of the truck the remaining vampires were at. Pulling out a wooden stake in each hand, he shifted them into one hand and bent down, picking up a small rock with his empty hand. With a swing of his hand, he threw the rock at a nearby truck, the rock making a loud noise at it dented the side of the truck. One of the vampires immediately said "What's that?" before the other two murmured that he should check it out. Putting his second stake back into his other hand, Gohan raised his first one and waited for his prey to come out.

And they didn't disappoint. One walked out towards the dented truck, staring at the dent curiously. Noticing his tight shirt, Gohan knew the vampire didn't have any armor on him, making his job that much easier. With a swing, he threw a stake at him, its sharpened point piercing into his back and into his heart, killing him instantly. His body jerked forward, colliding with the side of the dented truck and collapsed to the ground.

This time, Gohan heard the other two vampires cry out in alarm. Rushing out, they went to inspect their fallen comrade, which resulted in Gohan throwing his other stake at them, taking another one down as the stake hit him in the back much like the previous one. As the second vampire fell, his comrade immediately whipped around, catching sight of Gohan as he moved towards him. With a cry of rage, he lunged towards the young man, which proved to be a big mistake.

With one of his hands in his jacket, Gohan side stepped the vampire's charge and whipped out his plastic water gun. Squeezing the trigger several times, he shot out the holy water on the vampire's face, causing him to cry out in pain as his body jerked backwards, his hands going up to his head and covering his face as smoke poured from between his fingers.

Striding over to one of the vampire corpses, Gohan pulled out one of the stakes and went right to his remaining, screaming opponent. Without a word, he plunged the stake once again into his back, piercing the heart and silencing the vampire as he fell to the ground. Pulling the stake out, Gohan went back to the other corpse and retrieved his other stake as well. That done, he then approached the shack and entered it.

Despite its dilapidated outward appearance, the inside was anything but. Other than the platform he stood on, Gohan looked into a deep hole that was more like the shaft of a service elevator. Obviously the elevator had been used and was currently on a lower level somewhere. Well, he really hadn't been expecting this. If only he had a grapple or something.

So now what? The only way down was the elevator and there was no telling how far down it was. That meant just jumping down it would have been utterly stupid and he was in no rush to break a leg at the moment. The only way that elevator was coming up was with a couple dozen vampires and he wasn't crazy enough to take on those odds. Crap, he was back to square one.

Leaving the shack, he let out an irritated sigh. Now what was he suppose to do? He had already killed the sentries up here and it was only a matter of time before the others showed up. The moment they found the dead bodies, they'd immediately be on alert, trying to find him instead of continuing their cargo transfer. That eliminated hiding in one of the crates cause there was no telling what they were do with an intruder out and about.

How the heck was he supposed to get down there?

Suddenly, Gohan heard the creaking sounds of a door opening behind him. Looking behind him, he found the door to the shack was still shut. Frowning, he looked about the area around him and saw nothing that could have caused that sound. Again, though the sound came from behind him, the only thing that was behind him was the shack and that hadn't made the sound he had heard.

And then Gohan felt like he needed to hit himself in the head. Of course, the sound could have come from behind the shack. And he was supposed to be smart guy. Walking around the shack, he soon caught sight of a small little wooden structure. If he had to call it anything, it looked like an outhouse. And right in front of it stood a vampire, a lit cigarette between his fingers as he blew out a cloud of smoke, facing towards the shack. Looked like someone was on their smoking break.

Unfortunately, the vampire was out of his throwing range. Too much distance was between them and Gohan had never been very good at throwing stakes at that range. It was one thing to aim at something fifteen feet away, it was another at easily double that range. He needed the guy to come closer. So grasping one of his stakes, he began walking towards the vampire, hoping that the night would keep his identity concealed until the last moment.

Apparently, his hoping had paid off. The vampire merely nodded towards him as he took another drag of his cigarette, assuming he was one of the sentries up here. Even better, the vampire had closed his eyes to savor the burning nicotine in his lungs. He opened his eyes when Gohan was only a few feet away and it was at that point he realized that Gohan wasn't who he thought he was. "Who are—"

Lunging forward, Gohan impaled him on his stake, the vampire letting out sharp cry as smoke poured out of his mouth, his eyes widening. His cigarette fell forgotten to the ground as his body leaned into Gohan. Grabbing hold of him, he drug his body behind the outhouse and dropped him there after removing his stake. With that taken care of, Gohan went back to the front of the outhouse and opened the door.

And wouldn't you know it, the vampire's had made a second entrance to the place, a staircase to be precise. Apparently they wanted another way out of the place in case the elevator failed them. Climbing down the steps, Gohan made his way down the staircase until he reached the bottom; there he found a door which opened up into a very large store room. Thankfully the vampires had a thing for building mazes out of everything they owned, so all he saw were stacks of wooden crates. Still, just because they couldn't see him also meant he couldn't see them.

Creeping down the vampire-made path, Gohan eventually found them close to the elevator, almost complete with stacking their latest load of crates on the warehouse floor. A cursory glance around told him they had been stockpiling a lot of the blood coagulate, seeing as wooden crates were placed from wall to wall all over the place and there was plenty of space between the four walls. Of course, not all of these boxes had the Celox, they could just as easily have weapons as well or some other freight. Still, if his information was correct, then many of these had to be holding the Celox.

So now what?

Making sure his presence had remained unnoticed, Gohan hunkered down, keeping his eyes opened and ears at attention. The vampires in the meantime kept up their work, soft mutterings coming from them. All he could make of them is that none of them were happy to be doing grunt work and were fully intent on complaining about it. Nothing of note occurred until one of the vampires accidentally knocked over a crate from an existing pile. Though the crate didn't break open, the vampire was immediately reprimanded. That fact went slightly unnoticed because Gohan's eyes focused on the big, bolded letters on the crates side.

AMMO.

So he had been right to assume there was other stuff here. Ammunition and now Celox: what an odd combination to store together in a warehouse. But that made him wonder what else was in the warehouse. Quietly, he began to search about the maze of boxes and crates, marveling how much this place looked more and more like the docks, just cleaner and without the random coils of ropes and hanging nets. In fact, it was starting to remind him of this movie where this adventurer went to ancient ruins and found treasure only to have it placed in a warehouse…like…this…

Videl was right, he really did watch too many movies.

Shaking his head, Gohan continued his search, without the movie references. With sweeping eyes, he took note of everything, though to be fair there wasn't much to catalog. Other than nameless wooden boxes, the room's décor was very lacking. Heck, he was almost grateful to find a crate with a hole in it, spilling out its contents onto the floor. From what he could tell of it, it looked like fertilizer, though what reason a vampire had to store fertilizer was beyond him. Just another thing to add to his list of weird storage combinations.

Turning a corner, he soon found drums of fuel, or so the barrels claimed. When the word GAS was spelled right out for you, it was usually safe to assume such things.

Wait a minute. Ammunition, fertilizer, gas. What the hell were these vampires thinking keeping this stuff together in the same room? Any idiot with a lighter could cause a lot of trouble with this stuff and vampires weren't the geniuses of the world, no matter what they said to the contrary. He knew why they would want weapons, that was a no brainer. He could even give them the gas since you never knew when you would need fuel. But fertilizer and for some reason a blood clotting drug? This was starting to not make sense at all.

Maybe this place was just a storage facility for anything they got their hands on? Yeah, that had to be it. He just happened to be in one part of the warehouse, so there could be a lot more to it. Still, some of this stuff didn't need to be stored together. He would have shown them the error of their ways if he had a lighter on him, but that was a moot point because he rarely had a need to carry a lighter. Heck, the only people who carried them regularly that he knew of were smokers.

Gohan's head jerked up. Hey, he knew a smoker! A recently deceased one, but one all the same. Alright, he needed to get topside quickly and back. Once the vampires here went for their next load, he would have some work to do.

* * *

><p>Videl stared out in front of her, bored out of her mind. This was the last time she waited for Gohan to do what ever it was he did when he did his solo missions. The next time he told her to wait, she was going to leave him behind and let him find his way back. That would show him to waste her time like this.<p>

Part of her felt that he had done this on purpose and the other part was finding it very hard to argue against that train of thought. Oh, he was going to get an earful from her the moment he got back.

Turned out her first opportunity came moments right after that thought crossed her mind. Her passenger door was flung open and Gohan damn near flew into the seat, slamming the door behind him. "Go, go, go!" he shouted, almost panicked. Acting on instinct, Videl followed his command to the letter, all two of them as she turned the ignition, fired up her car's engine, and took off down the road in mere seconds.

Eyeing him out of the corner of her eye, she asked "You mind telling me why we're running away like this?"

"Well, I had a hard time getting away. Had to kill my way from the shack to the car," he answered her, his chest rising as he panted. "They caught sight of me while I was leaving and didn't want to let me go."

"I wonder why," she said sarcastically. "You are a vampire hunter after all. I'm absolutely surprised they wouldn't want to give you a fruit basket and send you on your way."

Gohan merely rolled his eyes at that before continuing. "There's also the—"

Suddenly, bright flashed occurred, followed by a loud thunderous roar erupting behind them. A violent tremor shook the area, causing Videl to grip onto the wheel tighter as she tried to keep control of the car. Fortunately she was successful because she didn't really want to try surviving a surprise car accident. Jerking her head to look back, she couldn't make out anything from the darkness that greeted her from the rear window. "What the hell was that?" she exclaimed as she returned to look forward.

"That would be the bomb I made."

Videl paused for a moment before yelling "You know how to make a bomb? Since when?"

"Since my college professor mentioned it in Chemistry class," he replied. "I had to make a few adjustments, but I'm pretty sure the results were satisfactory. Now, can you get us out of here before the vampires recover from back there or any of the ones at the mansion get curious and come check it out?"

"You're just full of surprises," Videl muttered, as they reached the main road, turning onto it and heading back to the city. Though she did have to think, why would Gohan need to take a chemistry class? As far as she knew, the guy had never gone to school, much less graduated from one. Then again, he did have a job so a degree was needed. Just what he did was still unknown to her and she was starting to think she needed to find out.

Right after they finished fleeing for their lives of course.

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><p>What do you get when you mix fertilizer, gasoline, and a blasting cap? That would be a fertilizer bomb. Though I did take a few liberties in using gun ammunition in place of a blasting cap, admittedly. Also, before you ask why vampires would want fertilizer, here is my answer: I have no clue, you should ask them that. They're the ones that stored it, though you would think they would have placed the fertilizer on the other side of the warehouse from the gas. That's just poor placement there.<p> 


	15. Chapter 15

This will probably be the last chapter of 2011. It's been a good year guys and I hope to see you all in the new one. See ya in 2012.

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><p>The moment they arrived at the apartment, Gohan had damn near dove head first into the fridge, looking for something to eat. Well, to be specific, he was looking for any sort of leftover of Chichi's cooking. Videl had felt his latest injuries weren't as bad as the ones that had bedridden him and stored them away for future needs. Unless Gohan looked more hurt than he did, Videl wasn't about to let him snack on it because he felt like it.<p>

As the young man pulled out the containers with the food, Videl smoothly walked passed him, snatching the containers in one fluid movement. For a moment, Gohan looked lost as he realized his hands were empty. Looking down at them, he then turned to look at her putting the containers back into the fridge. "Uhh, what are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm making sure we still have a supply of miracle food," she replied, closing the fridge door. Turning to look at him, she crossed her arms as she gave him a stern look. "So what were you doing with them?"

"I was going to eat them," he responded, moving to her to get back into the fridge. Upon Videl not budging from her position in front of it, Gohan began to look annoyed. "C'mon Videl, I'm hungry. Could you move?"

Videl shook her head. "You're not eating the food in the containers and that's exactly what you're going for. They're not meant to be snacks you know."

"But they're already prepared!" he protested. "You want me to spend time making something that won't taste nearly as good? That's stupid!"

"And that's exactly what you're going to do," Videl shot back calmly. "The fridge is off limits right now so go get something from the pantry."

Gohan stared at her disbelievingly until he realized she wasn't kidding. "Videl, get out of the way."

"No."

"Don't make me hurt you."

At that, Videl blinked owlishly. Was Gohan actually threatening her over food? _Food_? "What did you say? You're going to hurt me over some scraps of food?"

This time it was Gohan's turn to blink. "Hurt you for food? That's the dumbest thing I've heard you say."

Videl scowled at him. "Hey, you're the one that said it, not me."

"I…I did?"

"Don't pretend to be innocent. I do have ears and they're a lot better than the ones you mortals have. You told me to move and that you'd hurt me if I didn't." Dropping her arms, she squared her shoulders as she steeled the rest of her body for any possible conflict. "Now if you don't have a good reason for uttering something that outrageous, you better get out of my sight before I do something you'll regret."

Gohan raised his hands in front of him, trying to pacify her as he took a step back. "Calm down, calm down. I'm sorry if I threatened you. I guess my stomach just got the better of me. Could you please step out of the way so I can get something to drink?"

Videl stared at him coolly. "No, I don't think I will. If you want something to drink, there are glasses in the cupboards and a water faucet you can use."

A silence fell between the two before Gohan spun around and marched off irritably. "What ever," he muttered before entering his room and not so quietly slamming the door behind him. Staring after him, Videl waited several moments, mostly so she could let any building resentment to dissipate. In all the time she had been with the guy, he hadn't ever acted that way. Distant yes, well-mannered definitely. There had even been a few occasions where he had been royally POed with her, but that was usually concerning something much more important than what he planned on eating for a late night snack.

At that moment, Videl didn't feel like staying in the apartment. She needed to get out of there for awhile, despite the fact that the night was nearly over. She'd find somewhere else to crash if she had to.

She was also going to have to bring the food with her though. Videl wasn't dumb enough to think that the moment she left, Gohan was going to try again to eat it so it would be best to take it along for the ride. She had an insulated bag in the trunk of her car so she could keep it in there for awhile.

Opening the fridge door, Videl collected every container she could get her hands on, even the ones that didn't have Chichi's food in them. Pulling out a garbage bag, she stuffed all of the containers in it and hefted it off the ground, the plastic drawstrings wrapping around her hand and the bag dangling below. Without a second glance, she left the apartment, making her way to her car several floors below.

* * *

><p>"I'm really staring to question your judgment," Chichi said as the two women lounged about in the magic supplies store.<p>

"Believe me, you're not the only one," Videl muttered. "I've pretty much asked myself why I hang around the guy ever since I met him." Seeing as she had determined not to sleep under the roof she was paying for, thanks to a certain someone, Videl had needed a place to crash at and the only person she knew that wasn't after her head was her new best friend Chichi. The witch seemed to like her enough that she had been sure she'd give her a place to stay while she and her guy problem calmed down. Obviously she had been correct in this assumption. So here she was, gossiping with her bestest best buddy and it all had to do with the incident at home.

"So why don't you just disassociate yourself from him?" Chichi asked. "You seem like a strong girl; why tie yourself down to this guy?"

"Because," here Videl paused. It probably wasn't the greatest idea to tell anyone about her little treasonous plot, no matter how annoyed she was at the moment. Those sort of things usually had a way of coming back to bite people in the ass later and she wasn't in the mood to start sitting gingerly. "His last place was trashed by a big fight and as far as I know, he doesn't have anywhere else to go. I guess I'm just too nice or something."

Chichi's eyes narrowed. "Don't tell me this is one of those stereotypical relationships where the guy is beating on you and you're doing everything you can to make excuses for him. If that's the case, I will kick you out of my store."

Videl shook her head. "No, it's nothing like that. We're not even in a relationship other than friends, and I'm using that term very loosely."

"Is he against dating vampires or something?"

"Something like that."

"You told him you were a vampire?" Chichi asked curiously.

"No, he figured it out like you. Maybe even sooner, I don't know. But in all the time I've known him, he always seemed like a decent guy. A little too serious at times, but in his line of work, he has to be. But he wasn't ever serious about mundane things."

"To some men, food isn't mundane," Chichi replied. "I know my husband was that way. Just the slightest mention of food and there was nothing that would stop him from eating it. It was almost like life and death with him."

"Life and death?" Videl questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"I may be under-exaggerating it. The Son men were absolutely nuts about food."

Videl paused at that. "So your last name is Son?"

Chichi stared at her for a moment before nodding her head, almost as if she hadn't realized she had admitted to revealing that name.. "Yes, that would be correct."

"Well, it's nice to meet you Mrs. Son Chichi," Videl greeted, an attempt to lighten the witch's mood.

Chichi accepted the greeting warmly. "Nice to meet you too, Videl…uhhh…"

"Satan. Videl Satan."

"Ms. Satan," Chichi said with a smile. "So this acquaintance, is he like what I'm thinking?"

Videl shook her head. "No, not at all. To be honest, this is the first time my 'pal' has acted this way about anything. He just wanted to eat the leftover food of yours."

Chichi perked up at that. "My food? You still had some left?"

"Yeah, I figured that since his injuries weren't as serious as the previous ones, I'd just give him some of it and keep the rest for future ones."

Chichi let out a sigh. "You did a good thing, it would seem."

Videl's eyes narrowed slightly. "Is there something you want to tell me?"

Another sigh. "Ever since I began learning the dark arts, the arts have been influencing everything I do. My cooking for instance has become a panacea for physical injuries as you can attest to. But if you know anything about magic at all, there's usually a catch to it. In this case, the food has developed addictive qualities. It's why I don't give it out to just anyone who asks."

"So my friend has become a junkie for food?" Videl questioned, trying to make sure she understood that. She had heard of all kinds of addictions, but other than obese people, this was the first time she had heard of food becoming a drug.

"Pretty much."

"Do you have anything that can undo the addiction?"

"Nope. Everything I've tried usually exacerbated the problem. The best thing for your friend right now is to pretty much go cold turkey. No more of my food, even if his insides are all smashed up and every bone in his body is broken."

Videl ran a hand through her hair. "This…is unexpected."

Chichi gave her a weak smile. "I should have told you the first time you came in here. I'm sorry."

Videl waved the apology off. "What's done is done. At least I know why he was acting so irritable. How long does it take for the addiction to set in?"

"One or two meals. It doesn't take much to be frank."

"So he would have craving already. I'd imagine he's starting to go through withdrawals by now."

"Perhaps you should let him know."

"He's a big boy, he can take care of himself. I'll tell him when I go back after sundown. I'm not really in the mood to go home right now, if you know what I mean."

"I suppose you want a place to sleep," Chichi said as she began to stand up. "I'll go set something up for you, some place dark."

"Thanks."

* * *

><p><em>Videl was not someone you just ordered around. The last person she allowed to tell her what to do was her father and he wasn't alive anymore. What ever gave Vanyel the idea that he could order her around and she would obey him, she didn't know, but she would be damned—again—if she was going to be a good little soldier. So when he told her to stay out of a building teeming with vampires, she had promptly ignored him the moment he disappeared into it.<em>

_Which would explain why she was roaming a hallway, trying to find her way out of the building._

_Yeah, this hadn't been one of her better ideas—she could admit that freely. But when she wanted to prove a point, by God was she going to prove it. Unfortunately, she wasn't in a position to prove what ever that point was at the time, especially after hearing commotion on one of the upper floors. Whether Vanyel was behind it or not, Videl had decided that was the point where she needed to make her exit. That was when she discovered who ever built this building had a love for mazes. Seriously, how many twists and turns did this place have?_

_Coming to a corridor with several doorways, Videl began opening the doors one at at time. Forget trying to find her way out of here, she would just find a room with a window and jump out of it. Ha! Bet the builder hadn't thought of that possible exit point!_

_After a couple of rooms proved to be windowless and thus useless for her purposes, Videl opened yet another door and found another windowless room, making her hiss in annoyance. However, there was another doorway in here, one that could lead her to where she wanted to go. Entering the room, she made her way to the doorway, the door behind her creaking as it slowly swung closed until there was only a crack of space between it and the doorframe._

"_What the hell are you doing here?"_

_Videl stiffened, her eyes growing wide. How the hell did she not notice another presence in here? Just great, she did not need being caught in the same building with a murderous vampire hunter running amuck. It would seem she had to do her own vampire dispatching._

_Swinging around, Videl raised an arm up, aiming to back hand the person behind her, coming to a stop when her mystery vampire caught her swing. Not stopping, Videl continued spinning, throwing a fist at the vampire, that also being caught. Well this wasn't a good position to be in: both of her arms crossed with her fists being held firmly in the hands of…a very strong-looking guy._

_However, Videl was not the kind of person to just wait for her opponent to make a move. Leaping off the ground, she brought her legs up, her bent knees nearly touching her chest before lashing at with them, slamming her feet into the guy's midsection and sending him flying back, his grip on her hands disappearing._

_That just left Videl to falling onto the ground, landing on her back as she temporarily had her breath knocked out of her. Okay, she could've thought out that landing better, but hey, at least she wasn't being restrained at the moment. Getting back to her feet, she looked at her opponent, who was on his feet as well, striding towards her purposefully._

_This time, he took the offensive, throwing a fist at her which she expertly dodged. A second fist came flying at her, followed by a third and a fourth, each one being evaded much like the first. "Answer me," he said through gritted teeth, pausing only to throw another punch at her. "Why…are you…here?"_

"_None of your business," Videl shot back at him. This led the vampire to throw yet another punch at her, but when she dodged that one, he brought the arm into his body and lunged forward, ramming his shoulder into her and sending her flying into the concrete wall of the room._

_Trying to recover from that blow, Videl found a fist imbedding itself into her stomach, causing her to lose her breath once more. This was followed by the vampire bending his other arm and slamming his elbow into the side of face. Next, he then grabbed her by the throat and spun around, throwing Videl across the room and crash into the opposite wall._

_Collapsing to the floor, Videl began to think she had bitten off more than she could chew. Already, she knew she was faster than him, since she had been dodging him only moments earlier, but his strength had really caught her off guard. She was definitely going to be feeling this tomorrow._

_Suddenly, a hand grabbed her around her throat again and lifted her off the ground, roughly slamming her against the wall, but this time holding her there. "You chose a bad time to come snooping," the vampire said to her, squeezing his fingers to restrict her air flow. "I've got one problem to deal with; there's no time to play around with you, wench."_

_Oh, now she was a play thing. Asshole. "I hope your little vampire hunter problem tears you a new one," she gasped out._

_His eyes narrowed. "A Vampire Hunter? What's a Vampire Hunter doing here?" His hand then tightened a little more. "And how would you know one's here?"_

_All he got was a strangled cough as his response. You know, if someone was interrogating another person, you would think they would at least give the interrogatee the necessary air to breath while answering. Some people were just so inconsiderate._

"_Well, answer me!"_

"_Figure…it out…yourself…"_

_The vampire growled. "I'm running out of patience. You better tell me what I want to know before I convince myself that of undesirable conclusions. Like maybe you wish to steal from me. Or maybe you want to take over my little operation, even talking this so-called Vampire Hunter to help you. Is that what is happening?"_

_Though he had only been guessing, Videl couldn't help stiffening at his presumption. Unfortunately, the vampire caught that reaction. "So you did bring this Vampire Hunter here." A second later, Videl felt the side of her face sting, a slapping sound reaching her ears as well as being called a bitch. "How dare you do this to me!" he shouted at her. "You shameful little tramp, I should kill you for this trespass! Not only do you want what is mine, but you bring in a hunter to help you! Disgraceful! Revolting! How could you cavort with the enemy? Wretched slut, I will mount your head on my gate for your disgusting act! How dare you betray your own kind? I will—"_

_The next thing Videl knew, the door swung open, distracting her rather pissed off assailant. "Who are—" she heard him say before his grip on her went slack and she fell to the ground. Breathing heavily, she sucked in as much air as she could, her eyes shut tightly. Opening them, she found Vanyel standing before her, looking down on her disapprovingly._

_Well, this embarrassing. Not only had she ignored this guy, but she needed his help settling a small tussle. Not the best way to impress someone. Rubbing her throat, she decided to be diplomatic. "Thanks, I owe you…big time, Vanyel." Her voice was hoarse thanks to her near suffocation._

_Vanyel merely glared at her. "You shouldn't have to owe me anything if you had listened to me," he said harshly. "What the hell possessed you to come in here after I explicitly told you not to?"_

_Now that wasn't very nice. Just because he saved her life didn't mean he could rub in her face "I told you so." Feeling her face becoming flush with anger, she retorted "I don't take orders from you!"_

_This time he responded with a different tone, one best described as a parent reprimanding a misbehaved child. "That's a shame. Had you listened to me in the first place, you wouldn't have ended up almost exposing us to all your vampire friends. Why don't you just hang a banner outside proclaiming that we're working together?"_

_Exposing? Oh, he must have heard that vampire connecting the dots. Crap, and it didn't hurt that the guy had been right too. Oh this was really not her night. "Alright! Alright! I made a mistake! It won't happen again!"_

"_You're right, it won't." Vanyel glared harder at her. "_You_ will be staying at the apartment every time I go out to deal with these vampires. I can't risk the chance of this happening again. If you don't like it, I can assure that only one of us will be leaving this building breathing."_

_That…bastard. Who the hell did he think he was? Saving her life only gave him so much leeway; he could not and would not treat her like a helpless child. Helloooo, she had lived for how long? Yeah, a long time and he hadn't been present at any point in her life to help her reach this era. Just because he was really good at killing vampires didn't mean he was a god. She could admit she made a mistake, but being scolded like a child was not something she would tolerate. She would show him, she would show him just how good she was._

_Getting up, she began walking out of the room, glaring at Vanyel's back as she followed him out of the building._


	16. Chapter 16

Happy New Year everyone! I welcome you to 2012 with this little chapter here. The first of many, though according to the Mayans, time is running out. Better enjoy this while you can lol.

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><p>It was the next night that Videl found herself back at her apartment. She half expected to find the place a mess, the result of her roomie taking out his frustrations on the furniture. Never mind that Gohan had never taken his anger out on inanimate objects before, but then, she had never seen him act like a deprived junkie. However, the place looked just the way she had left it the previous night. The room in front of her was bathed in darkness, giving it a barren feel to it.<p>

There was no sign of Gohan either.

Closing the door behind her, Videl turned on a few lights and began searching the place. Just because Gohan wasn't standing right where she could see him didn't mean he wasn't here. However, after checking the kitchen and his room, she discovered she was the only person in the apartment.

So where had he gone? He was usually at the apartment by the time she woke up and it was clearly pass that time. It was possible he could be doing overtime at work, but then she had no idea what he did and if that job even had overtime. Maybe he could have gone out with some of his co-workers or even some friends.

Videl paused at that thought. Did he even have friends?

Well, as it turned it, neither of those possibilities turned out to be right. Most of the night went by before Gohan returned and he was drenched with blood. Her first thought was that he had hurt him and was dragging his wounded body back for healing. But then she registered the lack of dragging in his movements. In fact, he seemed to be perfectly fine.

Videl stared at him from the couch. With half of her wanting to find out what he had been doing and the other half wanting to patch up nonexistent injuries, it was awhile before she spoke up. "Where have you been?"

"Out," was all she got in response. It seemed Gohan wasn't in the conversational mood. Not like that was going to stop her from talking with him.

"What were you doing?"

"My job."

Okay, now this was getting annoying. True it was only four lines in, but she hadn't been blessed with a truck load of patience either. "Are you going to tell me how you got covered in blood? I really hope none of it is yours."

"It isn't." Gohan moved over to a laundry hamper and began peeling off his blood-soaked clothes. "It came from a guy I threw off a roof," he continued, starting to feel chattier.

Videl cocked an eyebrow. "You threw a guy off a roof but somehow look like you bathed yourself in a bathtub full of blood? Unless this guy gushed like a fountain, I can't possibly see how his blood got on you."

"He was dying from intense blood loss when I threw him off."

Ah, so Gohan had stabbed the guy enough times to shower himself in the color red. "I'm guessing you had a good reason for throwing him off?"

"There was a wooden post sticking out of the ground. He landed on it." The corner of his mouth twitched upward at that. "He didn't know what hit him." By now, his torso was completely exposed, his pants being the only thing left on him. Videl could see faint scars on him body, time doing its best to fade age them. A few punctures and serious cuts and even a bullet wound comprised his collection.

Videl paid little mind to them. At the moment, she didn't quite get his dark humor at his retelling, but she needed to press on. "What were you trying to accomplish? It's not like I had given you any information on a good strike point."

"I have been hunting vampires long before I met you," he retorted. "And I got a lot of them tonight."

He was starting to sound irritated again, just like the previous night. Okay, at least she knew where he stood. Still, she couldn't help but talk about the big picture with him. "You know, what ever our next move against the mansion is, you've just made it more difficult now that you've gone on your bender."

Frustration began to appear on Gohan's face. "And you expect me to just sit around until you give me directions? Do I have to have permission to do my job now?"

Alright, with the way this conversation was going, Videl had the feeling it wasn't going to end well. She needed to try a different tact. "Tell me something, how long have you been feeling annoyed today? Been in a bad mood and just don't really know why?"

Gohan's eyes narrowed. However, he didn't respond immediately, which told her he was considering her words. A good start. "What would you know about that?"

She didn't answer him right away. Instead, she said "Had any cravings? Have thoughts that if you got what you wanted, you'd feel better?"

"Where are you going with this?"

It was time to go for the kill, so to speak. "What I'm saying is that you've been feeling this way for a reason. You're having withdrawal symptoms. Think about it, can you even remember a time when you've been this crabby? That you feel like you have to lash out at something just to feel better?"

That made Gohan flinch. She was getting to him. "But what the hell could I be withdrawing from, if what I think you're saying is true? I'm not doing drugs or anything like that."

"The food you've been wanting since last night. I went to the woman who made it and she said it had addictive side-effects."

For a moment, Gohan looked as if he were about to erupt. Videl could only imagine that he was thinking she was trying to do everything she could to starve him of that amazing food. Hell, he even made a few threatening, advancing steps towards her before something seemed to click in his head. His hand then went to his head, covering his face completely before he let out an aggravated yell. The yell echoed throughout the room, making it seem much louder than it probably was. Videl just watched with wide eyes as the young man let out his frustration. Then as sudden as that had happened, he collapsed to his knees, Videl leaping up and rushing over to him. Putting her hands on his shoulders, she coaxed him to get to his feet and led him to a chair, seating him in it. It wasn't too hard to get him in the chair seeing as he was doing his best impersonation of a wet noodle. After a few moments he gave out an exasperated sigh. "You're making too much sense to be wrong," he said halfhearted. "Have any idea how long this crappy feeling is supposed to last?"

Videl shook her head. "No telling." Her eyes flicked down to the chair, noticing some of the blood on his pants getting onto the chair. "Though I'm pretty sure that those stains won't ever be coming out," she tried to jest.

"It's just a chair," he muttered indignantly. So he still wanted to be confrontational. No more joking then.

"I asked her what we should do about your addiction," she informed him. "The only thing she said was that you had to go cold turkey. No more of that food."

A growl escaped his lips before he shook his head. "Cold turkey. Great. Just…fantastic." Another sigh. "It's probably for the best too. So no more delicious food. I guess I won't be out hunting for a little while, especially feeling like this."

"Why don't you go wash up?" Videl suggested. "Maybe go to bed. You've done enough for one night."

"I guess so," he relented. Yet he didn't get up and head towards the bathroom, instead choosing to sit where he was. Deciding he would do as he wished when ever he was ready, Videl moved to where he had dumped his other bloodied clothes. Picking up the shirt, she eyed the gleaming fluid as it clung to the material.

"What are you doing?" he heard Gohan ask her from behind.

Looking over to him, she answered "I'm gonna try to clean this off, before it stains."

Looking down on himself, he let out a big sigh before getting to his feet. "Don't bother. Just throw it out or burn it. There's no use trying to save it."

Videl's eyes flickered to the jacket, noticing it wasn't his preferred one. Aww, and here she was ready to get rid of that thing. "You look disappointed," she heard then, an amused tint in her roomie's voice. "I wouldn't let you get rid of my favorite jacket, even if it was falling to pieces."

"Pity," she muttered before dropping the shirt back into the hamper.

* * *

><p>The chamber was deathly silent. Crane couldn't help but fidget as he kneeled on the floor, awaiting the inevitable reaction he knew was coming.<p>

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT WAS BLOWN UP?" an enraged voice roared, causing Crane to flinch. "That location was completely concealed! No one, not even the damn Council knew about it and suddenly it goes up in flames? What the hell happened, Crane?"

"All the guards would say is that someone snuck in and planted a bomb," Crane responded, doing his absolute best to remain calm. He was quite proud that his voice managed to stay steady. "They're still sorting through the wreckage to determine what kind it was. But most of the coagulate was destroyed, along with the arms stash."

"Incompetent imbeciles," the man raged, his hands tightening on the chair's armrests. The furniture gave a low groan in protestation from the pressure being applied, though it didn't completely shatter like Crane thought it would. Peeking at the man, he could only see the rage burning in his eyes, a beacon to all who cherished their continued existence so that they avoided a painful fate. Unfortunately, he had to weather this storm. "I've spent months stockpiling this immoral concoction and all that works is nothing but ash," he growled. "Tell me, what of the other shipments?"

"I've given orders to redirect them," Crane informed him. "They are now going to a new location that I wish to not divulge at this time. I feel it is best if we restrict the flow of information to a minimum."

The man's eyes narrowed. "What is your reason for this?"

"I am beginning to suspect that the mansion is not the best place to conduct this business. It is likely someone is leaking our activities to an outside source. The only person that even knew we were up to something other than your men was that vampire hunter and your counteragent did away with him."

"You believe there is a traitor? And why wouldn't the vampire hunter have his own followers? Could he not have brought another with him to that warehouse as insurance?"

Crane shook his head. "Vampire Hunters by nature are lone wolves. They do not congregate like us vampires, instead locating a territory to defend and protect against other hunters. All of our research has indicated this throughout the centuries."

"Not necessarily," the man murmured.

Crane looked curiously at the man. "Milord?"

"It is best that we do not take chances. Search for this traitor of yours. Leave no stone unturned. However, strengthen security as well. Regardless of if there is a traitor, there is some other outside force opposing us and it must be dealt with swiftly. Already plans must be pushed back and I do not like to reschedule. Take care of this."

"Yes Milord," Crane replied, bowing his head down. Then something occurred to him that caused his head to snap back up. "Oh, before I forget, there is one other thing I wish to report to you. It concerns the package that arrived with the shipment that was attacked at the docks." At this the man looked interested, though Crane could sense that any negative news would undoubtedly end very poorly for him. "I took it upon myself to separate it from the shipment after the first attack and have placed it in an undisclosed location. I felt it was the prudent thing to do."

"It would seem you chose a correct course of action," the man acknowledged. "Retrieve the package. I want it in my hands before sunrise."

"Yes Milord."

Creaks in the chair signaled that the man was leaning back into it, slouching as it were. He was quiet for a moment before asking "Have you heard any word from our research wing?"

"No, I have not."

"Then it would seem we need to pay a visit to Dr. Baisser. Inform the counteragent that his services are required. I will not be taking any chances when we journey to the hospital."

Crane looked surprised. "Y-you wish to see the hospital?"

"I do. A man I once killed said that if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. It would seem it is time I become more included in this scheme considering the problems that have been occurring recently. The counteragent will be my insurance that I have someone competent when we go. That is alright with you, yes?"

"Yes, absolutely," Crane said hastily. "There is a scheduled inspection in the next few days. Would that be an acceptable date for your visit?"

"A few days? Fine, but no later than then. We mustn't inconvenience the good doctor after all." Crane couldn't help but note the slight sarcastic tone in the man's voice. It was quite obvious he wanted to go sooner than that, but Crane needed time to put in place all the appropriate security for this venture and anything less than perfection would result in him losing his head. At this point he needed all the time he could get.

"Understood Milord."


	17. Chapter 17

Originally when I was writing this chapter, I meant to make it longer. However, as the chapter progressed, it got longer, and longer, and longer, so I decided to split it all into 2 separate chapters. That soon turned into 3 by the time it was all said in done. Also, I was getting tired of writing this chapter and I finally came to a point I was happy to end it on. So here it is for all of you. Enjoy.

* * *

><p>Well, Gohan had seen better days. He should have seen better days because if these were his best days, Videl would have to say he'd lived a very poor life. But at least right now he seemed to be in better shape, especially since that black eye he had was finally fading.<p>

And yes, she had been the one to give it to him.

Videl understood that what Gohan was going through wasn't easy. Just stopping a growing addiction was an enormous feat in and of itself. Yet that didn't excuse him for acting like a jerk every time he laid eyes on her. So she had slugged him, promptly knocking him out and ending his night early.

That had felt gooooooood.

Now though, Gohan seemed to look better. He was less grouchy too, which was a plus. In fact, he seemed very remorseful when ever he saw her. He just wasn't sure how to talk to her about the last couple of days.

And he had better be grateful towards her. She had cared for him throughout the nights, causing him to become nocturnal for awhile. She had also called in his work for more time off, something his employer didn't seem too happy about. Said that if Gohan wanted to work there for the foreseeable future, he better not get sick for the next ten years. Oh, then said that for a girlfriend, she wasn't really good at keeping him well.

Videl had promptly said a bad word—a whole slew of them to be exact—then hung up on him. She hadn't stayed up until well into the morning with that dangerous sun being up in the sky just to be insulted by some pencil pusher or what ever it was that guy did. The next time Gohan found himself recovering from an addiction, he was going to have to make that call. Nobody called her someone's girlfriend, especially when that someone forced her to do things she never wanted to do and even tried to kill her.

Then with as much composure as she could muster, she had marched off into her room and fell asleep for the day, plotting the ways she would make Gohan's boss suffer for his impudence. That had been hours ago though and now Videl was refreshed and in a better mood. Feeling like a million bucks, she left her room and went to go check on her little patient. As she made her way to Gohan's room, she faintly noticed the TV on, some advertisement blaring on the screen about the downtown convention center being active. It was most likely some politician coming to town for some fundraiser or something, not that she really cared.

When she found the guy doing sit ups in his room, she couldn't help but smirk at him. Oh yes, he was getting into his workout routine thing he did; a very good sign in her book. It was about time he felt better.

As Gohan pulled his torso up, he caught sight of her. "Good evening," he grunted to her before lying back then. A second later he was pulling himself back up. "You look happy."

"I always enjoy seeing my work pay dividends," Videl responded, crossing her arms over her chest as she leaned casually against the doorframe. "For awhile there, I thought you wouldn't ever get better."

She received a grunt in response. A moment later Gohan stopped his sit ups and sat comfortably on the floor, looking towards her. "About that, thanks. I can't imagine it was all that easy to deal with me at times."

"Just know the next time you need to go cold turkey on something, I'll be seriously contemplating killing you to save me the aggravation."

Gohan studied her for a moment, trying to decide whether she was joking or being serious. She just kept her face as blank as possible, keeping him guessing. She'd let him ponder that for the time being. Always keep them guessing was a woman's motto after all.

"Anyways," Gohan said, shaking off the comment, "I was thinking I needed to repay you for your support. Would you mind doing something tonight? Uhh, with me?"

Videl cocked an eyebrow. "What exactly do you have in mind?"

At that moment, a loud growl was heard. A cheeky grin covered Gohan's face as one of his hands began patting his stomach. "Well, I suppose I'm hungry, so why not we go get something to eat. My treat."

Videl gave him an amused look. "Alright then, since you're paying I get to choose the place. And no whining with my choice, alright?"

"You got it."

They left shortly after that, heading towards downtown. Videl hadn't mentioned where they were going and Gohan seemed at peace with that. In fact, the drive had been comfortably silent; it was a nice change considering the unpleasantness of the previous few days.

However, as they came to a stoplight, something caught Gohan's attention. "Hey, do you see that?" he asked, pointing a finger towards a building. Looking, all the dark-haired girl saw was a small gathering of cars in a parking lot. The building itself didn't really alert her to anything. Heck, there were some people strolling around, minding their own business.

Yet she had been around plenty of times where Gohan had picked something out that she couldn't. So she said "What are you seeing? Those people?"

"Yeah, especially the ones hovering around the door," Gohan replied, his eyes narrowing. "Turn onto that street there so we can get a better look."

Doing as he said, Videl turned the car onto the specified street, driving right in front of that building and parking lot. Gohan kept his eyes fixed on it, pointing out "Notice how they all seem to be hiding something?"

Glancing, the girl couldn't help but see what her roomie was saying. Most of the men there—actually now that she got a better look, they were all men—were holding themselves stiffly, trying to conceal something in their jackets. Their dark, fashionable jackets. Oh, and why the heck were they wearing sunglasses at night?

"You've got to be kidding me," Videl muttered as they passed the building. Finding a parking spot further up the street, she pulled into it, feeling slightly annoyed. "Let me guess, you think those vampires are up to something."

Gohan nodded his head. "I guess we're gonna have to take a rain check on that dinner," he said reluctantly. Oh good, at least she wasn't the only one disappointed. "We need to get back to the apartment and pick up my weapons."

Videl looked at the hunter surprised. "You don't have any on you?"

"I didn't think I'd need them. I'm not sure how long those guys have been there but they look like they intend on staying there for awhile."

Turning to look back at the building, she gave it a hard stare. "Tell you what, you drive and get your things. I'll stay here and make sure they don't leave while you're gone. If they do leave, I'll call the apartment."

Gohan nodded his head and opened the passenger door, Videl opening the driver's door. Once Gohan was back in the car, he took off, leaving Videl standing on the sidewalk and wondering what the hell she should do. The night had started off so well too.

Well, she needed to get a better look at those guards. Heading back towards the building, she crossed the street and entered the building across from the target. She made her way to the roof, the gravel on it crunching beneath her feet as she went to the roof's edge, staring down from it at the little horde of vampires across the street. The first thing she noticed was that there were a lot of them scattered all around the parking lot and front, even disappearing into the darkness surrounding the sides of the building. A security detail perhaps? The cars in the parking lot were of the standard dark SUVs that her kind had begun to favor lately. Other than that, she couldn't make heads or tails of what was going on.

Looking at the building itself, she saw that it was much higher than the one she was nesting on. Squinting her eyes, she tried to see if she could make out anyone on its roof, not coming up with anything. Still, just because she couldn't see anyone didn't mean they weren't there. Shifting her eyes down, she came across a logo on the building's front. Lamia Hospital. She paused at that. This was a vampire business, the name completely giving it away. This was the place Gohan had gone to get that information on the Celox shipments. Alright, there was something going on concerning those shipments, she would have bet her immortality on it.

Gohan had better hurry his ass back here.

* * *

><p>It wasn't long before Gohan was back at the hospital, staring at it from an alleyway from across the street. When he and Videl had driven by it, he had recognized it immediately. The added suspicious behavior in front of it had just confirmed to him that they were up to something. With his weapons on his person, he was ready to go in and break up their little party.<p>

He heard a sound from behind him then, a voice saying an instant later "It's me Gohan." Gohan merely turned his head to acknowledge Videl and to also confirm her declaration. Upon seeing her, he nodded and looked back at the hospital. He also put away the stake he had instinctively pulled out.

"Where were you?" he asked.

"Up on the roof," she answered pulling up next to him. A quick glance up told him she had just dropped off the building since there wasn't a fire escape anywhere in sight. "What did you do with my car?"

Fishing out the keys from his pocket, he returned them to her. "I parked it a block over. Didn't want to risk any of those guards seeing the car again and getting suspicious."

"So how do we get in?"

For a moment, Gohan felt he needed to tell his comrade to stay behind, but he shook it off. With all that heightened security, it would be a good idea to have an extra set of eyes, though it would have been better if it wasn't Videl. Beggars couldn't be choosers.

"There's a dock around back," Gohan answered. "It's how I usually got in, though I imagine they've increased security there too. I think we'll have to take our chances if we see an opening somewhere."

"And you plan on looking for this opening how?"

"By walking around." With that, he reached an arm out and hooked it around Videl's. This caused the girl to look at him confused. "They're going to be looking for something out of the ordinary and what could be more ordinary than a couple strolling around at night?"

Videl got his explanation right away, though a coy look appeared on her face. "If you wanted to cuddle, you should have just said so," she teased before leaning into him, the two of them slipping out of the alleyway and strolling down the street. "Is this your way of making up for that dinner you owe me?" she asked amusedly.

Doing his best to look as lighthearted as Videl was seemed, he replied "Something like that. We should probably cross the street here."

Videl let out a giggle, for what reason Gohan had no clue. "You know, if you want to look like a couple, you going to have to put more effort into it. Actually smile and joke, you know." Ah, so that was the reason for the sudden giggle. This idea of his looked to be more work than he thought it would be. "Now lean your head to my ear and whisper what you want to say next."

Following her directions, Gohan leaned his head in, his lips close to her ear. "I see you've done this before."

A laugh left her lips as she gave a slap to his shoulder. "Once or twice," she admitted before angling them towards the street. Once they were on the other side, she released his hold on her arm and pushed herself closer to him, moving his arm around her shoulders as her own arm wrapped around his waist. "There, much better" she said, resting her head against his chest.

A few moments later, Gohan relaxed himself in their embrace. "So, is there something we should be talking about, ya know, to keep up this act?"

Videl shifted her head to look up at him from her current spot. "If you're gonna ask me how the Titans are playing in that fake nonchalant voice, I will break your arm right here." Returning her head back to its prior position, she then added "Just talk like you normally would; leave out any awkward sounding subject."

Gohan's eyes narrowed a bit as he looked down at her. "Why do I get the feeling you've had more practice at this other than one or two times?"

"I've lured a few people using it, yes. You can't just drag people to secluded locations all the time. Sometimes finesse is required."

"And now you're teaching me all of your tricks."

"You asked. Besides, it's not all that bad."

"Do you have any other pieces of advice?"

A shrug of her shoulders was her answer. "Just be affectionate, if you're clueless about what to do. If anything comes up, I'll let you know." A twinkle appeared in her eyes then. "Now, if you're wanting to make out, just so you know you won't have to try very hard to get my cooperation."

A blush appeared on Gohan's face as they turned a corner and began the long trek down the side of the hospital, the only thing between them being the parking lot and knee-height railing surrounding it. For a moment, Gohan was beginning to wonder if he should have convinced this vampire girl into being a significant half for a few minutes. Her little proposal, no matter how teasing she made it out to be, was making him consider taking up her offer. He was only a man after all. However, as far back as his memory went, which was quite extensive, he couldn't recall a moment where a vampire and a vampire hunter got comfortable enough with each other to swap saliva. There were a few seductions here and there, but rarely did that end well for either party.

Deciding to focus on the mission at hand, he tightened his arm around the girl's shoulder, his eyes glancing to a side to see what the security detail was up to. As Videl reacted to the gesture readily—namely wrapping her other arm around him—Gohan noticed a few guards observing them, but for the most part were content with just looking. Along the side of the hospital, he saw fewer guards than the front, but unlike the front these guards were actually patrolling. Sheesh, getting into that building just seemed to be getting harder and harder.

"I'm not seeing a way in," he whispered to Videl, leaning closer to her.

"Just wait until we get to the back. If that's as guarded as the front, then we'll just have to think of something else."

Settling for her answer, the two strolled to the back of the hospital, finding the docks that Gohan had mentioned earlier. There were a few trucks parked there, several vampires loading them up with cargo, most likely more Celox that they had been collecting. Still, with the patrols and the vampire presence so far, it didn't look like they'd be getting in.

It was at that point that a faint sound began, growing louder as each second passed. It was a shrill sound, almost like a whine. In fact, it was a siren, most likely from a police car or an ambulance and it was heading this way.

Bursting onto the scene moments later, an ambulance came barreling down the street, pulling into the rear entrances of the hospital parking lot. Shortly after, a brigade of cars and vans appeared as well, swarming after the speeding ambulance. All the vampires at the docks had stopped their work to watch as the ambulance spun around and quickly backed up to a set of doors near the docks. Looking to each other, a few vampires began approaching the ambulance cautiously.

Once the ambulance came to a stop, all of the doors swung open as the driver and passenger leapt from the truck and hurried to the back, there a third rescue worker was preparing to unload a person who was strapped down to a rolling bed. Realizing what was going on, the vampires immediately went into action. "You can't drop him off here," one of them called out. "The hospital is currently shut down for maintenance."

"What the hell are you talking about?" the driver shouted incredulously. "We have a stroke victim here and he needs immediate attention! You're the closest hospital in miles!"

"I'm sorry, but we can't take him," the vampire reiterated.

The driver grabbed the vampire by his collar and shoved him towards the ambulance. "Do you know who that is? That's Senator X.S. Cash. You turn that guy out and you're little hospital here won't be opening again. Now quit being a jerk and let us in."

The vampires began looking to each other once more before they opened the emergency doors of the hospital. The rescue workers immediately rushed the senator in.

But that wasn't the end of the commotion. From the swarm of cars that had followed the ambulance, people began rushing to the doors, many of them with cameras, both for pictures and recording. Media personnel. Of the people without obvious media affiliations, there were some dressed in suits and looking like they were about to break down anyone that would get in their way—the senator's security detail. Finally there were people in formal wear, most likely family and fri…lobbyists associated with the senator.

"I think we have our way in," Gohan said to Videl as they watched the spectacle.

"You think the hospital will let all of those people in?" she replied.

"They'll have to, though I'd imagine they'd cordoned them to a lobby or something. What ever the vampires are doing here, they'll keep those people far away from where they're doing their business. We just slip in with the crowd and we're in." Keeping his eyes on the crowd as they fought to get inside the hospital and were finding it tougher than they would have liked, Gohan noticed as many of them began making their way to the front. "We might have to split up though. The guards at the front saw us together so if we show up with each other, they might get suspicious."

"If we must," Videl conceded. "And here I was getting comfortable. So where do we meet up in this place?"

"Head to the back of the hospital. There's a 'secret' staircase that will take us to the basement levels. What ever the vampires are up to, it'll definitely be done down there."

For some reason, Gohan felt that Videl shouldn't be tagging along with him on this. Like this wasn't the place for her to be seen with him, despite their stroll for all to see. He pushed that thought aside for the moment since there were more important things to worry about, namely getting into the hospital. Waiting for the mass of people to finally get the hint they weren't going through the backdoor, the two closed in on the crowd as they began to hurry to the front of the hospital. Separating, they merged with the crowd, going unnoticed as the vampire security tried to maintain control over this sudden incident. Despite the impatience of the crowd, the vampires managed to herd them inside in an orderly fashion, Gohan and Videl slipping in unnoticed. However, as the group was being led to some designated area, Gohan managed to separate himself from the mob and stealthily made his way towards the back of the hospital. Thanks to the commotion from the crowd, all focus was put on them, allowing the young man to move about freely.

Of the two, Gohan was the first to arrive at their rendezvous point, most likely because he knew exactly where he was going. It was several minutes later before Videl showed up, looking around apprehensively. She caught sight of Gohan a few moments later and made a beeline for him. "How the heck do you found your way around here?" he heard her mutter. "It's like a damn maze."

"And it's about to get even more confusing," Gohan replied before heading to a door with a keypad situated next to it. Tapping in a few numbers, a small blare was heard before the door swung open.

Videl stared at the door for a moment before asking "So this is the secret staircase you mentioned earlier?"

"Yeah, this is it," Gohan replied, looking towards her. "Were you expecting some sort of high-tech security measure or something?"

"Well…yeah."

Gohan chuckled at that. "This is a public place you know. They can't have something that sophisticated out in the open; it would raise too many questions. Don't worry, there are harder measures up ahead."

"And let me guess: you know your way around those too."

"You know me too well."

* * *

><p>To the nameless reviewer: Sorry for the lack of romance. That is definitely not one of my strong suits.<p> 


	18. Chapter 18

The familiar ill-maintained corridors of the underground levels were surprisingly empty of people. That worried Gohan. He had been expecting a lot more activity down here than they had encountered and compared to the security detail surrounding the hospital, these halls were damn near abandoned. It was discerning to say the least.

Unless he had seriously miscalculated these vampires, they had to be down here somewhere. There was no way they would hold some big meeting here on the upper levels, especially with normal people being cared for up there. Now that the senator guy was also a guest here, there was no way the vampires would risk exposing themselves to such a crazed audience. The media would go berserk and people would demand the extermination of all vampire-kind.

That was assuming that any evidence of the vampire existence got out at all, of course.

At least Videl was being a good sport about all this. Gohan would have thought the girl would have begun complaining about how long it was taking to find their prey, but she had remained quiet throughout. Instead, she was on high-alert, looking around for any potential vampires, though the reason escaped him for some reason. If they ran into a vampire, he would just kill it, so no problem right?

"Relax," he whispered to her, making Videl focus on him. "You look as if you're about to bolt at the slightest sound. There's no need to be jumpy."

"Easy for you to say," he heard her grumble. "You're not the one that'll die a horrible death by being spotted with a vampire hunter."

Gohan flinched at that, his eyes widening as realization hit him. Videl shouldn't have been here in the first place! Why hadn't he thought about that before hand? He should have been the only one in here searching for vampires. Idiot, moron, imbecile! How could he have walked into such an obvious mistake? And Videl was only following his lead because she trusted he knew what he was doing. Damn it all, he needed to get his head in the game _now_. It seemed these last few days hadn't only impacting his body, but also his mind. He definitely needed to make note of that in case he ever became addicted to something again.

Fortunately, luck had decided not to be a bitch tonight. As the two began to turn a corner, a door further down the corridor opened, causing them both to back out of sight. Peering around the corner, Gohan saw a pudgy man in a white lab coat appear, complaining loudly to no one in particular. Hmm, that guy seemed familiar…

That was when Gohan felt Videl stiffen next to him. "I know that voice," she hissed, her eyes flaring in rage. Pushing against him, Videl peeked around the corner and looked right at the lab guy. "Jacques," she said with bitter hatred.

Gohan cocked an eyebrow at her. "You know him?"

"Yeah, he's the one that turned me. His name's Jacques Baisser—"

That got Gohan's attention. "Baisser? I know that guy! He's the one that told me about the Celox shipments and got away." Looking around the corner once more, Gohan confirmed it was the guy.

At this point, Videl was giving him a hard look. "And you didn't tell me? Why not?"

"Well, you never did tell me the name of the guy that turned you. And he called himself Jack, not Jacques."

"That's because it's the same name, idiot. He just adapts it to the culture he's in."

Gohan looked thoughtful at that until something hit him. "Wait a second, you mean that wimp is that guy that turned you into a vampire? How? I mean, the guy's lost most of his hair!"

Videl looked embarrassed at that. "He was wearing a wig at the time; they were fashionable back then. And he had really good taste in poetry."

At that moment, Gohan knew he would never pity another person as much as he did Videl. Seriously, someone of Videl's character and she gets tricked by a balding, middle aged-looking man who had bladder problems when scared was humiliating. It was just plain sad. There were people that committed ritual suicide from that kind of shame. "I…uhh…wow, that's awful."

Videl glared at him. "Don't rub it in."

"Seriously, I don't think I could feel any sorrier for someone than—"

"I swear to God, Gohan, if you don't stop talking, I will rip your tongue out."

Choosing to focus back on the doctor—and keep his tongue in his mouth—Gohan found the guy walking away from them. In face, he was nearly at the end of the corridor, about to turn a corner. Once the man made his turn, Gohan hurried down the hall as quietly as he could, the same with Videl behind him. Once they reached the end, they peaked around to find a door closing, a loud sound occurring once it had shut completely. "If anyone knows what's going on here, it'll be him," Gohan said at last, keeping his eyes on the door. "We'll wait for him to come out and grab him."

"Then what?" Videl demanded. "What do we do with him after that?"

"Well, he tells us what we want to know, then I kill him. Then we crash what ever party is going on and call it day."

For a moment, Videl seemed lost in thought, but eventually nodded her head in confirmation. "Alright. Okay."

Not paying any mind to that lapse, Gohan pulled out his stake and slowly stalked towards the door. He stopped a door down from the one the doctor had entered into and waited, his eyes solely focused on that one door. Eventually, it opened, revealing Baisser with a large cardboard box in his arms, still complaining over the injustice of something or another. Probably that he had to do actual work since he didn't seem to be the guy that would do something if he had a subordinate to do it for him.

And that was when Gohan closed the distance and pressed the stake into the doctor's back. "Long time, no see, Doc," Gohan greeted him, Baisser stiffening as he came to a complete stop.

Well, make that an almost complete stop. At the sound of his voice, the doctor swung his head around and stared at him with fear. Again, his natural pale skin hid any sign of him paling in fear. "You again?" the man nearly shrieked. In turn, Gohan gave him a cheeky grin before grabbing him by the shoulder and roughly jerking him to a wall. The box in the vampire's arms fell to the floor, creating a loud crash that echoed in the hall.

"Yep, me again" he then said as he held the little man against the stained-covered wall, keeping the stake point poking into his back. "Decided to drop by my favorite doctor to see if he would be as helpful as last time."

"You have no idea what you're doing!" Baisser hissed at him, struggling for a moment before the stake point reminded him not to make any ill-advised moves. "They'll kill you this time, I swear it!"

"That remains to be seen. So, are you going to tell me what's going on here, or do I have to reintroduce you to that toilet again?"

"_Baiseur de mere_," he spat at him, causing Gohan to grab the back of his head and slamming it on the wall. The doctor let out a cry of pain in response.

"What are you doing?" Videl hissed at him, suddenly right next to him. "If you hit his head too hard, he'll be useless to us."

Baisser jerked his head towards her upon hearing her voice and stared. "Wh-what are you doing here? And with him?"

Gohan and Videl looked to each other before facing him together. "I'm here for you Jacques. He just happened to jump in for the ride."

"Without killing you first? There's no way a vampire hunter doesn't kill a vampire on sight!" The doctor paused at that. "Unless he's getting something in return." Another pause. "So what are you giving him? Other vampires to kill in your place? Is that what you've done? You're helping him kill our own kind? You traitor!"

Gohan gripped the back of his head tighter, reminding the doctor that he was still there. "She's the least of your worries right now. We know there's something going down here tonight and we want to know what. So before I stake you and try to find out the hard way, you can save me all the trouble by telling me what I want to know."

"No, not this time!" Baisser shouted defiantly. "I'd rather die than tell you anything!"

Gohan narrowed his eyes. Was this guy hoping another unexpected janitor would show up and save him? Or was he trying to get anyone's attention by shouting at the top of his lungs? Either way, Gohan was not going to go for that. "Videl, I want you to find a syringe and a sedative. If you can, also find something to bind his wrists and ankles."

"What are you going to do with those?" Videl inquired.

"Well, since he's not going to be cooperative, we might as well kill him and be done with him. Not the fast way though. We're gonna drag him up to the roof and leave him for the daylight to burn him to a crisp."

Admittedly, that would have been tougher to do than what Gohan was claiming, mostly because of that influx of people who were hanging around for the senator. Dragging an unconscious doctor would definitely be noticeable. Videl knew this as she gave him a questioning stare. Baisser, on the other hand, had no clue those people were up there and began trembling in dread. "Y-y-you can't. You can't d-do that," he said in a much quieter tone.

"Do you want to find out if I will?" Gohan replied. Waiting a moment, he then added "Tell me what you know or wake up to the torture of your burning body. It's your choice."

It was painfully quiet for several moments before "Th-there's a large gathering here. They're inspecting the research done here. The guy who ordered me to do it is here too. Doesn't want any more set-backs."

Gohan held back a triumphant grin. This guy was a coward through and through. "Who's your boss?"

"His name's Suveran. Omul de Suveran."

So the other guy Krillen had told him about was here. Interesting. "Is there anyone else with him?"

Baisser was quiet once more, though he eventually said "His right hand man is with him. Stirogi Crane. He and this other guy that seems comfy around Suveran. I have no clue as to why."

"What does this guy look like?"

"Tall, buff. He has long blond hair and—"

Gohan stopped listening to the doctor at that. So that Sharpner guy he had fought was here too. This was getting better and better. "Where are they right now?" he then asked, interrupting what ever it was Baisser was sputtering out.

"T-two levels down," he automatically answered. "In the operating theater."

"How big is that theater?"

"What do you think? Its two stories tall! It has to be to be a theater ya know!"

"Naturally the vampires are meeting on the operating floor," Gohan stated. Upon seeing the doctor nod his head, he than asked "And there would be separate entrances to the operating floor and the seating surrounding it, right?"

"Of course."

"Great." Moving his hand to the doctor's collar, he jerked him away from the wall and began marching down the hallway. "Lead us to it," he ordered.

Baisser tried to struggle at first, but gave up shortly after, not quite sure he wanted to press Gohan's patience. With Videl trailing them, they went to an elevator which lowered them to the next floor down and into another maze of corridors. With his grip on the vampire secured, Gohan allowed the doctor to continue leading them to their destination.

It was a few moments later that Baisser began to talk again, specifically to Videl. "What's your purpose for this? Why are you associating yourself with this monster?"

"Because I want you dead," she replied, not at all concealing her dislike to him. "It's something I've wanted for a very long time and he promised to do it for me."

"That's it? Some petty revenge?" the doctor said incredulously. "What the hell did I do to piss you off?"

Videl glared at him. "Because you put me in this situation. I wouldn't be here now if you hadn't turned me into a vampire."

"That's it? You're mad at me because of that? Lady, do you know how many people would kill to be in your shoes? I did you a favor, you little whore!"

Videl's fist slammed into his mouth a second later, causing Baisser to cry out in pain as he gripped his jaw. All the while, Videl glared at him with nothing short of malice. "I have to kill people just to live," she growled at him. "That's not a favor, that's a curse!"

A choked snigger came from the doctor as he gingerly held his jaw. "That's not how I remember you feeling. In fact, I believed you relished in becoming a vampire. You were quite blood-thirsty when you started out. You practically begged me to help you with every kill you made." Then he leered at her. "And that's not the only thing you begged me to do…to you. Over and over and over."

Gohan suddenly swung the doctor, slamming him into yet another wall, Videl's fist flying through the air harmlessly. Though he really didn't care what was going on between these two, he really needed to keep this guy among the living for a moment. The punch Videl had thrown would have definitely warped the doctor's face if it had landed, not something they needed to happen at the moment. Later maybe, but not right now. "You two be quiet," he ordered. "I rather not have to break your jaws to make sure we're not heard by anyone." His eyes shifted to the left, then the right. "Hey Doc, shouldn't there be some guards down here?"

"The meeting is supposed to be quiet you know," he heard Baisser say snootily. "The guards outside should have kept everything out of here that isn't supposed to be here, namely you."

"Then that means there aren't any guards down here for us to run into. Wonderful. You're such a considerate race of creatures," Gohan said. "It's like you exist to make my job so much easier."

Baisser didn't seem to like that fact rubbed into his face, but kept his mouth shut. After all, how did one refute cold, hard facts like that? Or a sharp, pointed stake in your back? Yeah, Gohan had all of his bases covered. "Now I believe you were showing us where this meeting of yours is. Shall we continue?"

Not giving the doctor a choice, Gohan forced him to move down the hall, Videl once again trailing behind him. The little spat with her creator hadn't done any good for her temper. Though he couldn't really sympathize with the girl for the single fact that he had never been in her situation, her wailing on their reluctant guide, while feeling awesome, would be counterproductive to their operation.

Eventually they arrived at a set of double doors, Baisser gesturing to them lifelessly. "Here's the entrance for the seating area," he deadpanned. "Now let me go like you promised."

Gohan kept his face as blank as he could. He never made a promise to let the guy go. Either the guy thought he could play it off as if he had or assumed Gohan would let him go. "Not so fast," Gohan said before glancing to Videl. "Check the place out to make sure the good doctor is telling us the truth." Wordlessly, Videl slipped through the doors and disappeared behind them. It was a couple minutes before she returned.

"He's telling the truth," she confirmed emotionlessly. Gohan nodded his head, before moving his hand holding his stake. Unexpectedly, he tossed the stake to her, causing her to catch it fumblingly. Obviously she hadn't expected him to do that, but he needed a free hand for what he as about to do.

"What are you doing?" Baisser hissed at him, staring fearfully at the wooden weapon in Videl's hands. Videl seemed to be wondering the same thing as she looked at him questioningly. That was alright though, Gohan wanted to make this as memorably as possible for her.

"Are you watching?" he asked her, the girl slowly nodding her head in confusion. "Good. I want you to burn this into your head. I can only do this once." Pulling out his weapon of last resort, he pressed the flat end of the metal rod against Baisser's back and flicked the small lever.

Blood exploded from Baisser's chest as the sharp silver stake shot out, running him through from back to front as a sharp cry ripped from the doctor's mouth. Videl stared with wide eyes as specks of blood covered her face and neck, the doctor coughing out more blood painfully as he let out pitiful gasps of pain. Slowly his eyes glossed over, the life in them fading away as his head lowered until it hung limply.

Holding Baisser's body up for Videl to soak in every last detail, Gohan eventually dropped him to the floor, sliding his stake out. Kneeling down, he wiped the blood off of it with the doctor's lab coat until it was clean. Once he reset the spring and sealed the stake back inside the rod, he put it away and looked back to Videl, who was still staring down at the deceased vampire.

"You okay there?" Gohan asked, standing back up. Numbly, Videl nodded her head, still looking down at the body on the floor. Reaching out, Gohan took the wooden stake from her, the girl not putting up much of a fight as he did so. Awkwardly, he watched her as she disappeared into her own world.

Eventually, she softly said "I didn't think this would ever happen."

Gohan gave her a tight smile. There really wasn't much he could do here for her and time was starting to run out for them. Yet, he was fully aware of what the doctor's death meant for them. "I'll leave you with him," he said, moving an arm to rest on her shoulder and give it a squeeze. "And take care."

Moving away from her, Gohan went through the double doors and into the operating theater. He wasn't too sure if he would see Videl after this, now that the promise he had made to her was fulfilled. He had killed her demon, her cause for existence as she had wanted him to, the whole reason why they had teamed up. While he wouldn't object to her help if she decided to lend it to him, it wouldn't surprise him if she took off instead. The dynamic between them had just changed.

Their alliance was no more.


	19. Chapter 19

Hey guys, Immortal Enemies has reached the 100 review mark. Thank you everyone that has reviewed this story, I really appreciated it. I'm glad y'all have enjoyed it and hope to keep hearing from everyone till the end. Thanks again!

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><p>Gohan found himself in a large room, rows of seats steeply descending from the door he had entered through and leading to a railing that circled a large pit in the center of the room. Though describing it as a pit was probably the wrong word for it, the sudden drop off to a wide open, tiled expanse needed to be described somehow. When various TV shows wanted to show a room full of doctors wanting to watch a new and controversial medical technique, this was the room they performed it at and for once TV wasn't exaggerating it.<p>

Light lit up the center of the room, which left most of the seating area bathed in darkness. This was a good thing since Gohan could now sneak up to get a better look at what was going down on the operating floor. Crouching down, Gohan descended a staircase separating two sections of seating until he arrived at the railing and ducking behind the small wall it sat on.

Peaking over the wall, Gohan saw a large crowd of vampires—none of them awkwardly bulky-looking so that fortunately ruled out the _anumit_ armor—staring intently at three specific vampires. Gohan immediately recognized Crane and Sharpner, but the third guy was completely unknown to him. Was that the Suveran guy he had been hearing about? Maybe, since all of the other vampires were at attention, waiting for something to happen.

"It seems the good doctor is late," the supposed-Suveran spoke out, his tone very calm.

Crane looked to a doorway somewhere, or so Gohan assumed, before he replied nervously. "He should be on his way. It shouldn't be much longer."

"I would certainly hope so. Otherwise we need to find us a new doctor, one that actually understands how to be on time."

Gohan held back a snort. You might as well say the doctor would be late indefinitely, you know, since he just killed the guy moments earlier. So now that he knew these guys were waiting, growing steadily impatient with each second that passed, what did he do? Obviously kill them, but he wasn't crazy enough to take them all in here. He needed to limit the number that could attack him and from where. Taking this into the hallway would work, though he would need to choose a new one since he wasn't too sure if Videl was still working out her thoughts. Okay, time to move.

Silently once more, Gohan began following the railing circling the operating floor. All the while he kept an eye on the vampire hoard, watching for any sudden change in their demeanor-i.e. them catching sight of him and raising all kinds of havoc. Fortunately, none of them did. It wasn't until he reached a staircase that led to another doorway when he heard Crane's boss speak up again.

"You know, I have the feeling that we won't be hearing from the doctor," he said casually. "In fact, it wouldn't surprise me to find out if he had been killed on his way here."

The vampires surrounding him began turning their heads slowly from one side to another, their eyes darting all over the place. "Yes, the doctor must be dead," the man continued, as if he were trying to confirm to himself that what he was saying was true. "I can smell freshly-spilt blood and it's coming…" at this he turned and pointed right at Gohan's hiding spot, "…from right there."

Oh crap, this guy had some hyper-smelling didn't he? And he hadn't come up with a stronger attack plan. Well, he would just have to fall on what he had so far. Bolting, Gohan shot up the stairs and crashed through the doors, just as bullets began to pelt the doorway. Not pausing, he rushed down the hall, putting as much distance between the gunfire and himself as he could. Though the hallway stretched down further, he came to a branching hallway and turned into it, pressing his back against the wall soon after and waited.

Soon enough, he heard the pounding of feet as his vampire pursuers raced down the hall after him. At this, Gohan readied his wooden stake while pulling out his Mace can in the other. Closing his eyes, he focused on his hearing, using it to judge just where his first pursuer was. Snapping his eyes open, he then swung himself around the corner, driving his stake into the chest of the vampire he met there. The vampire's eyes opened widely as he let out a dying gasp before coming to a complete stop against Gohan.

Keeping the dead body between him and the other vampires, Gohan stuck his Mace can out and shot the spray out at the next vampire, his target sliding to a stop as he dropped his gun and gripped his face, letting out a wild scream as his eyes burned. Shoving the dead vampire to aside, removing his stake as he did so, Gohan rushed up to the screaming vampire and grabbed him by his shirt, pushing backwards. By this point, the vampire's comrades had raised their guns and began firing at him. However, their friend proved to be a very useful human…vampire shield as their gunfire impaled his back repeatedly.

Calling upon his strength, Gohan let out a cry as he lifted his vampire shield off the ground and threw him through the air, crashing into a large group of vampires that were clumped together due to the narrowness of the hallway. As they fell to the ground in a heap, Gohan noticed a couple vampires that had pressed themselves against the wall to avoid the collision, their heads looking back at their comrades rather than him at the moment.

Leaping to the nearest one, Gohan impaled him with his wooden weapon quickly and forced him to aside as he removed the stake. By this time, the other vampire had noticed his action and was raising his gun to fire at him. Going on pure instinct, Gohan sent his stake flying at the vampire, nailing him in the chest before he could get a shot off.

Pulling out another stake, Gohan looked passed his latest victims, seeing the group of fallen vampires rising to their feet as well as other vampires closing in on them, their guns raised and ready to fire. Hoping over the body in front of him, Gohan crouched lowly as he moved passed the second body, pulling out the stake in it and hurrying to the vampire group.

Gohan wasn't too sure what possessed him to do this—and even after the fact he still wouldn't be able to tell you why he did it to begin with—but with a stake in each hand, he plunged himself into the crowd of vampires, lashing out with his arms as stakes impaled vampires in the chest, the back, and sides. All around him, vampires were punching and kicking at him, trying to hit him since using a gun hadn't seemed to enter into their minds. It wasn't like shooting him and hitting their comrades would be deadly to them. Perhaps they had some innate instinct for hand-to-hand combat when presented with the situation; what ever it was, it just caused Gohan to dodge, spin, bob and weave, and block as many blows as he could, while simultaneously stabbing any vampire that left him an opening. He honestly couldn't tell you when he did each move, but he was pretty sure he did them. It was total mayhem all around him.

Yet, as blood flew through the air and the number of people around him decreased, their cries of rage, pain, and death echoing all around him, Gohan began to make sense of the chaos around him, even as his frantically beating heart pounded away in his chest as it tried to keep up with his demands, adrenalin assisting it in its endeavor. The sound of blood rushing through his veins filled his ears, creating a pulsing beat within them, muffling the sounds of dying vampires. Faintly he could feel something sharp biting into his skin, but he buried the notion. He needed his full concentration and pausing for possible injury would only do more harm. It wasn't until the last vampire he killed dropped to the floor that everything around him began to calm down.

It was then that he realized that any remaining vampires were standing out of his reach, their guns trained on him, but not firing. They just stared at him stone-faced, masking what they felt about the carnage in front of him.

And then someone started clapping.

Locating the source immediately, Gohan found Sharpner walking towards him at a steady pace, his hands keeping a steady beat as they hit each other. "Impressive," he called out haughtily. "I must say, I didn't expect to see you still alive, but then most cockroaches are hard to kill."

Gohan didn't respond, opting to stare the blond vampire down, blood dripping from his stakes and hands. He had all the features of an impassive statue, just waiting to see this man's next move. Absently, he noted a few cuts on his body here and there, a couple of knives lying on the floor at his feet. So one or two of those vampires had managed to pull out their knives and sliced at him. Lucky for him they hadn't tried stabbing; or maybe they had stabbed and he had moved out of the way, receiving a cut for his efforts. Considering his alternatives he could live with the cuts.

Ending his clapping, Sharpner took off his formal coat and dropped it to the floor. Unbuttoning his cuffs, he began rolling his sleeves up his arms one at a time until they passed his elbows. "You know, it's not often I get to fight someone more than once. Most of the time they die quickly, which is quite boring for someone of my talents. When I was called out here, I was expecting more action than I've gotten. Now though, I'm giving you a second chance to impress me. Don't let me down like last time."

Not caring there was still blood on his weapons, Gohan put his stakes back in their holding place, raising his arms in front of him as he took a defensive stance. Taking this as his cue, Sharpner strode to him and threw a punch at his head. Gohan blocked the blow and widened his eyes a moment later, jumping back as Sharpner swung a kick at him. As his foot missed his opponent, the blond vampire brought his swinging leg to the ground and put his weight on that foot, pivoting on it as he swung another kick at Gohan. Again, the vampire hunter jumped back, putting distance between him and the spinning sidekick. Sharpner didn't give up on this though as he repeated this action again and again, spinning himself around and around as he sent side kick after side kick at his opponent. Eventually, he stopped the kicks and used his momentum to lunge at the dark-haired youth, throwing a punch with his left hand.

Again, Gohan backed off, Sharpner's fist coming to a stop in midair before he drew it back. A small amount of irritation began to show on the blond's face as he threw another punch with his other hand. This time, however, Gohan dodged to his left, throwing a block to keep Sharpner from backhanding him. With his other hand, he swung it at the blond's head, Sharpner shooting his other hand out to grab his arm at an awkward position. Though he managed to grab the arm, it didn't stop Gohan from latching his own hand on the side of Sharpner's head. Using his strength, Gohan let out a strained grunt as he shoved his opponent's head towards the wall, aiming to bash his skull against it. Instead, Sharpner's head collided with a door, causing the wood to splinter around him as his face cringed from the blow.

Pulling the blond vampire away from the door, and causing him to go off balance as he did so, Gohan swung him back at the door and released his hold on him, letting Sharpner crash through the door as it broke apart, the blond's losing his own hold on the vampire hunter as well.

Entering the room, Gohan absently flicked on the lights, finding Sharpner sprawled amongst the shattered remains of the door. Aside from the mess, the room was pretty much empty, most likely being saved for some future use. Slowly, the vampire began to get push himself up, moving around to get his legs beneath him. Striding to him, Gohan closed the distance between him and his foe, picking his leg off the ground when he came close and kicked it out in front of him. His foot slammed into Sharpner's face as he looked up at him, sending him flying backwards and landing on the floor, skidding on it for several feet before he came to a stop.

Once he came to a stop, Sharpner rolled onto his side and pushed himself off the floor, standing wobbly on his feet as he turned to look at Gohan, a look of hatred on his face as blood trickled from his nose. Gohan in turn held himself back, taking in his opponent's state; it was something he wished he had done during their previous confrontation instead of rushing in headfirst. From what he could tell the blows to the head must have thrown the vampire's balance off as his wobbling attested to, a good thing in Gohan's book. He could definitely use that to his advantage.

Letting out a low growl, Sharpner charged at him, throwing another punch towards his face. Shooting an arm up to block the blow, Gohan quickly moved his other arm to grab onto Sharpner's. Then with his previously blocking arm, he straightened it out to grab a hold of the blond's shirt. Twisting himself around, Gohan pulled the vampire's arm down, just as he pulled his shirt forward, lifting him off the ground and throwing him through the air. This time, Sharpner slammed face first into the wall, a sickening snap being heard instantly.

Gohan stared at Sharpner's prone form for a moment, listening to his own heavy breaths as he did so. It was strange, he didn't usually breathe this way when fighting. His body mustn't have completely recovered from that addiction yet. Crap, he was going to need some adrenaline if he was going to keep going from here.

Unfortunately, it seemed this fight wasn't quite over as Sharpner began to move, slowly pushing himself up. When he got onto his feet, he leaned against the wall, his side facing Gohan as his own labored breathing was heard. Thanks to his long hair though, Gohan couldn't quite see his face and inspect what damaged had been done to him.

"This doesn't make sense," Sharpner suddenly said, his voice sounding tight and choked back. "You can't be stronger than me. There's no way you could get so much strength since last time. Explain yourself!"

Well, when you're right, you're right. But Gohan couldn't exactly tell the guy he was tiring too. So he told him the truth. "I don't have the energy to keep playing around with you."

Sharpner's head jerked to him, his hair flying around wildly because of it. This allowed Gohan to spy out a distortion in the vampire's face. Looked like the snap from earlier was from a bone in his skull breaking. That had to be hurting. "You bastard," he gritted out as he stared down the dark-haired man. Gohan had a feeling the blond wanted to shout that at him, but was having to make due with his present condition.

At that point, Sharpner charged at him again. However, this time the vampire was sloppy while doing so, letting out a choked scream as he closed in on him. Due to the sloppiness, Gohan immediately noticed the blond leaving his chest unguarded. Crouching slightly, Gohan poured at much strength into his hand and waited until the last possible moment. When it came, he lunged forward and slammed his fist into Sharpner's chest, once again sending the vampire flying through the air. This time, however, he burst through the wall, concrete, sheetrock, and wood exploding through the air and spilling out into the hallway beyond it.

Letting out a gasp, Gohan staggered back until he could retain his balance. He was really feeling the effects from these fights now. It would be best if he withdrew; there was no telling how much fighting he could withstand now.

Turning his head, he spied a door opposite from the whole Sharpner had made in the wall. Staring at it for a moment, Gohan then began making his way to it, feeling surprised when he found it unlocked.

It was then he heard the sound of gunfire erupting behind him.

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><p>The door to the apartment opened, the familiar protests of the door hinges squealing. Listlessly, Videl entered her home, a dazed expression on her face. She paid no mind to the door closing behind her as she shuffled towards the couch and plopping down onto it, staring in space as she collected her thoughts.<p>

She felt numb. That was the only way she could describe how she felt. Ever since she had seen Baisser die, she had been this way. She honestly had no idea how long she had stayed by his corpse, or how she found her way to her car and subsequently her apartment. It was all a blur at this moment. Yet, the only thing she could put any focus on was Baisser's dying eyes as Gohan impaled him on that monster of a stake he kept on him.

It wasn't that she regretted watching the guy die—in fact she had felt a rush from seeing him choke on his stolen blood. It was just hard to grasp that something she had wanted for so long had actually come to pass; she had no idea how to react. For the longest time, she had thought she would never get to see his death, figuring that it was just a fanciful dream. But now, it was real. The dried blood on her was a testament to that.

But now what? Where did she go from here? With Baisser dead, that meant her truce was Gohan was now over. No more would she find out various vampire activities and report them to him. It was scary almost. She had done that for so long, she had gotten used to it, comfortable with it.

It was over now. It wouldn't surprise her if Gohan didn't return to the apartment now that they were on opposite sides once more. It would be as if they had never joined forces—exactly what they had agreed upon when they formed the alliance. Yet for some reason, she felt empty, lifeless even.

Hollow.

What was she to do now that her role was over? It wasn't like she could go back to her previous life of merely living, feeding off of misguided people. There was nothing for her there, no purpose to be had.

Some life flickered in her eyes. Purpose. That was what was missing. Because of Gohan, he had given some purpose to her life. Ever since her falling out with the rest of vampire society, she had no reason for existing. She was just there. Then she had been conscripted onto the other side of an endless war and she had felt the closest thing to life since the enthusiasm she had felt when she had first been turned.

That had been something Baisser had been right about. As much as she hated to admit it, she had thrown herself into vampire life like it had been a new adventure. Her disillusionment with it had only grown in the last century or so.

Videl shook her head. Why was she getting so depressed about this? And why did she have to quit this holy war she had been dragged into? Maybe she and Gohan could keep at this thing, work together like they had been for the last few years. They could work something out, she was sure of it.

But then again, did she want to keep being apart of Gohan's fight? If she were ever caught, her punishment would definitely be worse than Gohan's. Where Gohan would most likely die fighting them, they would easily capture her and put her through all kinds of tortures. Then when they were done with her, they would give her a very slow, very painful death.

And what incentive did she have now? She didn't have that many wants that needed to be fulfilled. In fact, had Baisser been easier to find and dispose of, she would have bolted the first chance she had.

Instinctively, Videl's hands went into her hair, her fingers combing through it as her mind warred with itself. This was becoming too much at the moment. She needed to get over this glumness she was entangled with. Clear her mind of everything before she made a decision for her near future.

She needed to go to sleep.

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><p>Gohan stumbled in the street, leaning against the wall of a building. Streaks of blood marked his path as he slid against the brick surface, the light emitting from evenly placed streetlamps revealing them.<p>

Somehow, someway, he had managed to get out of the hospital in one piece. Oh, there were a few extra pieces he was carrying with him, but he hadn't had them when he first went in. A few bullets had found their mark, leaving him with some fresh wounds he needed to tend to. Of the shots he had taken, two of the bullets had lodged themselves in his body, another going straight through, and another one that had grazed his leg. How he was still moving was beyond him, yet he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Funnily enough, once he had managed to get away from the gunfire, he had a relatively easy time getting up to the above-ground levels of the hospital and subsequently leaving the premise. Using a window as his exit point, he had left the hospital in his dust, quite ready to leave it to the people that were supposed to be there.

As he moved into through the light of a streetlamp, something occurred to him. When he had broken out of the hospital, he hadn't encountered any of the security detail that had been stationed outside of the place. Why that hadn't occurred to him when he escaped confounded him. Unless that unexpected senator and his group of media-hounds were proving more difficult to contain, there should have been no reason that he could climb out a window and scamper away with his tail between his legs.

Something wasn't right here.

Gohan scanned the surrounding area quickly as he came to a stop, leaning against the building for support as he saw nothing but the empty street he was walking on. He was approaching a street corner where a street lamp seemed to give off an unnatural amount of light. Staring at it warily, he gave another glance around to make sure he was the only person around then moved towards the light.

Turning the corner, Gohan came to a screeching halt. Standing at the edge of the light giving off from the corner street lamp was the man from the hospital, the one that had detected him within moments of his entry into the operating theater. Staring at him bewildered, Gohan quickly corrected himself and stood as straight as he could, hiding away any visible sign of weakness. For a moment, he wanted to groan from removal of his crutch that the building had provided him.

The vampire though, looked at him bemused, his hands in his suit pants' pockets. At least his face had that expression; his eyes for some reason were odd looking. Bereaved of life, he would venture. It was very discerning to look into them. Yet for some reason they looked familiar.

Silence weighted heavily on the two of them as they stood there, staring at each other, waiting to see what the other would do so they would act accordingly. Ultimately, it was the vampire that broke their standstill. "You impress me, Vampire Hunter," he congratulated. "I did not believe you could make it out of the hospital in one piece. For that, I commend you."

Gohan cocked an eyebrow at him. "Praising the enemy, Vampire? I never thought I would see the day."

The vampire let the retort go, never releasing his small smile. A chilling breeze blew by, causing their clothes to flutter as well as their hair—Gohan's spiky locks and the vampire's neatly brushed strands. "No need to be impolite, young one," he replied. "I do not come to you just to fight. I am only here to talk."

Gohan tried to keep his movements subtle, which was tougher than he wanted to admit since he could feel himself sway a bit as his body tried to find some semblance of balance. His body was exhausted between the fight and his previous recovery and now he could feel his mind wanting to follow his body into shutting down. Unfortunately, now wasn't the time to do that. "Be quick then, I don't have time to mess around with your kind," he barked.

The vampire didn't look the least bit offended, giving him a nod in response. "Allow me to introduce myself: I am Omul de Suveran. For the pass few weeks I have been receiving reports of your various activities, such as your intervention at the Seaside Docks and your attack on my mansion's secret depot. My associate confirmed your identity as you fled from the operating theater. I must say, you are quite exceptional."

Gohan glared at him. "I'm touched."

A grin appeared on his face, again the expression not affecting his eyes. "You do not believe a word I'm saying, do you? You believe I am the worst sort of scum and shouldn't be allowed to walk these very streets."

Gohan chose to remain quiet at this, though it didn't deter Suveran from continuing. "I envy you for such on outlook. There is only good and evil, black and white, light and dark. No room for a middle ground, a grey area so to speak. A wrong must be righted regardless of the situation. It's a very simplistic outlook and quite serviceable as a lifestyle

"Yet as irreprehensible as I am to you, I do not blame you for the killing of my people as you have invested yourself into. If your fellow mortals were using my own as a food source, I would do very much the same thing. But I do believe there are other alternatives to solving this most grievous matter between us."

"You don't say."

Suveran smiled at him once more. "We live in a world of endless possibilities Vampire Hunter. Possibilities created not only by the natural world, but of science. Look around you; the realm of science, of understanding has created this metropolis of ingenuity."

"And what does science have to do with anything concerning you?" Gohan questioned.

"Quite simply the changing of my people," Suveran answered. "As much as it pains me, the mortal mind is quite brilliant. Only a mortal would have conceived of things they could never see with their own limited eyes. A whole microscopic world that runs the very world we live in, yet its majesty is unnoticed. Who would ever think that our own bodies are controlled by trillions of cells, each one imprinted with a specific material to ensure survival? And that even a slight change in this material can create all new organisms, or even lead to the downfall of something as mighty as a living creature?"

By this point, Gohan's patience was wearing thin. "You are not answering my question, Vampire."

A disproving look covered the vampire's face. "Patience is one of those virtues those of the limited lifespan seem to lack," he mused. "A pity really. To answer your question, using science, you mortals have developed methods of altering these genetic materials. Even as something primitive as mating a mare and a jackass is evidence of this. What I would like to do is apply these methods to my own kind."

"So you can what? Rid yourself of your inherent 'weaknesses'? So you can walk in the daylight and not burn to a crisp?" Gohan ventured.

At this, Suveran shook his head. "No, I would like to rid my race of its desire for blood. The thirst that drives us into the night to kill the mortals you protect. Just imagine it!" At this, the vampire's voice rose, filling with excitement. "No more would we have reason to fight, to kill and slaughter! We would just be a people of the night, watchers of eternity. We would be that which your very scientists seek to form: an immortal being! _That_ is all any one of my people wanted when they became a vampire. Why shouldn't they enjoy it without the paradox of ending other life? We can finally have peace between our races. A lasting one."

Gohan stared at the man in awe. Part of him believed what this vampire was saying, that he wanted to move pass the blood and death. Yet that older part of him, the one that had fought these creatures of the night for so long instinctively screamed that he shouldn't trust him. He had to know if this guy was sincere about what he was saying. "So what have you tried to accomplish this?"

"Various things. Genetic splicing, mating rituals, and the like. Anything that could change or manipulate the genetic code of vampire-kind, we have tried them. Unfortunately, we have been caught at a dead end."

"…go on."

"You see, my people have come across something lacking in our genetic make-up. Something you mortals have that we do not." At this, the vampire began to show frustration. "Which does not make sense. Many of our kind were once mortal, so there is no reason why they would be lacking anything that they once possessed in a different life."

Gohan frowned at this. It wasn't often he heard a vampire admit to a deficiency. Usually they were listing off all the wrongs regular humans had as if they knew them by heart. This was intriguing to say the least. "Do you have any idea what that is?"

"A soul. Though the mortal religious institutions are nothing more than grown men and women ranting about preposterous fairy tales, they surprisingly got this correct. It is often said that vampires are soulless creatures of evil and it would seem that is a correct description. Without souls, it would seem we are doomed to our current lifestyle."

"So you need souls. How exactly do you intend on obtaining them?"

At this, Suveran looked proud. "For this matter, I personally conducted the research. To obtain a soul, a vampire must come into contact with a great source of spiritual essence; in short, a large collection of souls. I have poured through thousands of manuscripts and decaying scrolls to come to this conclusion and after more time, I believe I have found a proper source."

Stopping here, Suveran stared into Gohan's eyes, waiting to see his reaction. When all Gohan did was nod his head to continue, he plunged into his explanation. "As you can guess, there are not many concentrations of souls that are readily found, yet I have discovered in a text dating back several centuries ago the belief in the culmination of many different souls. The text referred to it as an embodiment, where souls of previous generations fused with each other to bestow greater power on the following generation."

At this, Gohan could feel his blood freeze in his veins. He knew of that text; correction, one of his predecessors knew of that text, having sought it and studied it. Though there had been no mention of transferring the embodiment to another host outside of death, its information had trickled down with that Helsing's every successor.

So if Suveran was right, then the way to put an end to the vampire war was living within him? A final solution to all solutions that could be conjured? It…it was almost too much to hope for.

"And now, I believe I have finally encountered someone with an embodiment within them," Suveran said, his entire attention focused solely on Gohan. "It is now that I request that you aid me and my people as we put an end to this senseless cycle we live in; this game in which we are but pawns. It is time to turn the page on this gruesome struggle and write a new chapter, one in which we can live in peace. What say you?"

Gohan could feel himself sinking into the vampire's emotionless eyes. Was it possible? Did he dare to hope it could be? "What exactly do you have in mind to access the embodiment? You do have a plan, yes?"

"To be honest, no I do not. Although I have been introduced to varying theories, I find it best to study unfamiliar phenomenon. It will not be long though; if we confirm what the texts have informed us about it, it will be a matter of weeks—no, days!—for us to create a proper method."

So this guy wasn't even certain that he could pull this off. Yet, he did propose an intriguing course of action. Should he agree to help this man? If not, would he regret not taking this man's offer? It was often said one must take a road less traveled in life and joining forces with the very thing he was charged with hunting would definitely be taking that untraveled path. What could he possibly lose?

Steeling himself, he straightened his posture as best as he could and said "Lead the way."

* * *

><p>Whew, a pretty long chapter I must say. Hoped y'all enjoyed it. So, I feel I need to explain a couple of things. Yes, Suveran is an OC, something I usually don't use in major roles in my stories. When I was planning this story, a certain...ahh, someone dared me to create a villain OC and I accepted the dare. Suveran is the result of that dare. I have mixed feelings about him and I'll get into those later in the story.<p> 


	20. Chapter 20

_Instinctively, she knew the forest was not the place for a woman like her, especially at night. It was dark and danger lurked in every shadow. Yet Videl found herself here, waiting in her best dress for that man among men._

_She had never felt this way about someone. There were times during the day that she found herself daydreaming about him and his handsomeness. Well, he wasn't the most handsome person in the kingdom, but to her he was the most handsome man she had ever met._

_Every time she saw him, he would shower her with poetry and declarations of affection. No one had ever said the things he said to her. Sure, there were boys that would remark on her beauty, but none of them made her blush like he did, or cause butterflies to flutter in her stomach, or even treat her like she was the only person in their world. But he did, he did it all and so much more._

_The wind blew passed her, causing the leaves in the trees and bushes to shake. If it wasn't for the sound of a twig snapping, she would have missed seeing her beloved approaching her. With eyes full of adoration, she softly spoke "Jacques."_

"_It has been far too long since I laid eyes on you, my dearest love," he said, closing the distance between them. "Every minute with your absence pained me greatly. I could hardly stand it."_

_Videl bowed her head slightly as she stared at the ground, her face growing warm and glowing red. Jacques always knew the right thing to say to her to make her melt like butter. He always said the things that she felt herself towards him, but due to decorum could never say. If only she could be with him forever._

_Suddenly, her vision was filled with Jacques' shirt as he stood in front of her. Looking up, she gazed into his breath-taking eyes, marveling at the raw adulation that shown from them. "I have missed your presence as well," she finally spoke, leaning into him as his arms circled around her. She sighed as she shifted herself to feel more comfortable against him. "Sometimes I wish we would never be parted."_

_It was silent for a moment before Jacques replied "There is such a way."_

_The first thing that popped into Videl's head was marriage, followed by elopement, either of which thrilled her to no end. Leaning back so she could look into his eyes, Videl saw promise flickering in them, exciting her even more. Of course, she couldn't seem too eager for such a proposal. "What are you suggesting, Jacques?"_

_Jacques paused for a moment before he carefully said "That we change your current status, my love. A simple change that will bring us the world."_

"_You…want to change me?" Videl said slowly, trying to figure what he meant by that. "I'm afraid I do not understand what you mean."_

_A distressed expression covered Jacques' face. "You do want to be with me, yes?"_

_Aghast that he would think otherwise, Videl quickly sputtered "O-of course I do! I would not dream of any one else I would rather be with!"_

"_Then tell me yes. Tell me you wish to go out into the unknown and let our love burn brightly. What say you, my dearest?"_

_Videl was hesitant about this. She wasn't sure why Jacques seemed so insistent about this. Yes, she wanted to spend every waking moment with him, but his vagueness was baffling her. "I am unsure of what you ask of me," she admitted._

"_I am asking if you would give up this life of yours for something better."_

_Oh! Well why didn't he say so? He really was asking her to elope! With a smile blossoming on her face, she responded "Yes, yes I do! As long as I am with you, I will do anything you ask!"_

_A devilish looking smile appeared on Jacques' face, something that made Videl feel very excited about. "I was hoping you would say that."_

_With his arms tightening around her, Videl leaned back into his chest, her smile still on her face as Jacques buried his face into her neck. This night could get any better. It was truly her happiest dream coming true. Oh, she could wait for—_

_A sharp jolt of pain in her neck suddenly cut off her thought as she grimaced from the shock. Oddly enough, it was coming from where Jacques had his face against her. In fact, she could feel his lips latched onto her neck, tightening and relaxing at a consistent pace as she felt suction. And there was something wet moving on her skin, trickling down to her bodice. Due to her beloved's holding her close, she couldn't quite see what it was._

_But then she began to feel something wrong. "Jacques," she tried to say, but found her voice came out weakly. Pushing against him, she tried to move out of his embrace, but found that he was holding onto her tighter than he had ever done before. And that suction was getting more and more frenzied the longer he sucked on her neck, which in turn made her feel weaker and weaker._

_Feeling another painful jolt shock her, a weak gasp escaping her lips, Videl began to struggle to stop what Jacques was doing, but found she lacked the strength to do so. It was at this point that she began to feel panicked. What was Jacques doing to her and why was it making her feel so weak? And why was it hurting the longer it went on?_

"_Please…stop," she gasped out, feeling her legs giving out. Slumping, the only thing that held her up was Jacques' arms, keeping her upright despite gravity wanting her to fall to the ground. Her vision began to darken as she began to feel numb. There was a comforting feeling as the world around her faded away, blackness surrounding her. She could have stayed there forever. She wanted to stay there in fact. The only thing that stopped her though, was—_

RING! RING!

Videl's eyes shot open before fluttering several times. What was going on? Where was she? What had woken her up? Letting her eyes adjust to her surroundings, she found herself in her room wrapped up in her bed sheets. There was a dull pulsing in her forehead, but it was slowly fading away.

RING! RING!

Groggily, Videl turned her head to the source of the ringing, finding the call screen on her phone shining brightly with some weird, jumbled digital letters on it. Ugh, she hated when someone called her while she slept. It usually happened right as she was in the middle of a sleep cycle and waking up during it always left her completely disoriented.

RING! RING!

Grumbling in protest, Videl reluctantly threw her arm out and slapped her hand down on the phone. Grabbing it, she pulled it to her and answered the call. "Waddja want?"

"Hey Videl! It's Chichi! I hope I'm not interrupting anything!"

Chichi. Who the heck was Chichi? "Who're you?" she mumbled into the phone, willing herself to stay awake. Damn her eyelids were heavy for some reason.

The phone was silent for a moment. "Umm, is this Videl Satan? Or do I have a wrong number?"

"Yeee-aah, I'm Vivdel," Videl spoke. "Whad do ya want?"

"Videl. It's me. Chichi. You come to my store every couple of days to hang out."

"Oh. OHHHH!" Videl said as she began piecing everything together. "Hey Chichi, how's it goin'?"

"I'm…alright," the witch said puzzled. "Dear, are you okay? You don't sound very well."

"Everything's okay," she replied, sitting up on her bed as a hand ran through her hair. "I just woke up."

"Just woke up? But it's nearly sundown. Why are you sleep…oh right. Never mind. Sorry I woke you up."

"It's okay. So, are you gonna tell me why you interrupted my beauty sleep?"

At that Chichi's voice perked up. "Yes! I managed to find the trail to one of the people I put that tracking spell on. I was hoping you would lend me a hand since you know this city better than I do."

"I told you I would help you, remember? Where do you want to meet up?"

"Just come to the shop and pick me up. We can follow the trail from there."

"You got it. I'll be there in a little bit."

Hanging up the phone, Videl tossed the handset onto her mattress and fell back on her bed. When she had made that offer to help out Chichi, she hadn't thought the witch would be so quick to take advantage out it. Oh well, she made a promise to help and she was going to go through with it.

Moving a hand to rub an eye, Videl's thoughts turned to the dream she was having before the call. It had been a long time since she had dreamt of that time. The last few times when she had woken up from that dream, she felt this indescribable rage from being so easily tricked by Baisser. How naïve she had been to fall for his sweet words and declarations. Now though, she didn't feel anything about it. It was just there, that was all; another memory like the many before and after it. But as of last night, this would be the only way she would see Baisser again. Gohan had made sure of that.

Stretching, Videl let out a small cry from the pleasant feeling she got. Standing up, she dressed herself and made her way towards the front door, her eyes flickering over to Gohan's bedroom and finding the door open. Pausing for a moment, she made a quick detour and peaked into the bedroom, finding it empty. A wave of disappointment filled her upon seeing his unused bed. So he hadn't come back last night.

Pushing that feeling away, Videl turned and made her way out of the apartment. She had a friend to go help.

* * *

><p>"Please, make yourself comfortable. It won't be long before our researchers begin their tests," Suveran said, standing by the door of a sanitized room. It was white, pristine, and bright; very unlike the other rooms in the building, but this would do to serve their purposes. "Again, I thank you for your cooperation."<p>

All he received was a grunt from the vampire hunter, but that was to be expected. The young man before him hadn't been much of a conversationalist during their journey here. Though he had to put the vampire hunter into a room for the day, seeing as his biological clock was telling him to sleep, they had adjourned for the daylight hours and planned to begin their activities the following nightfall. Yet every time he was in the young man's presence, he would give him a strange look before adverting his eyes to something else.

It was starting to become annoying.

Taking a glance at his guest, he found the hunter staring at him once more. "Is there something troubling you?" Suveran ventured. Really, this staring needed to stop.

"It's nothing," the hunter replied, looking distracted. "You just look familiar to me."

"I don't believe we've met," Suveran said coolly, staring down the young man. "I believe we would have remembered each other if we had."

"Perhaps," the hunter shrugged, turning his attention to something else. "How long will it take for your scientists to get here?"

"Not very long. In fact, I will personally go fetch them. You just wait here."

"Alright. I hope it doesn't take very long to find them, Slaba."

Suveran froze before frowning. "Pardon me? What did you call me?"

The young man looked vacantly at him. "Did I not call you by your name?"

"No, no you did not."

"I apologize then."

Suveran waved a hand at him. "No need. I suppose I look like one of the many vampires you have slain. It is to be expected when you have a high body count. Now if you will excuse me, I have some people to find."

Turning around, Suveran left the room, walking down the corridor as he made his way elsewhere. However, his thoughts focused on the hunter's use of that name. Where had he heard of that? He hadn't heard that name used in ages, specifically addressing him. Very disturbing. Unfortunately, he couldn't dwell on any conceivable reason as he was joined by someone seeking his attention. As he turned a corner to enter a new hallway, an acquaintance of his appeared in his sight, standing there as if he had been waiting for him to appear here. "What are you doing with that vampire hunter?" the man demanded.

Suveran snorted at him before spinning around and walking away from him. "I'm getting rid of him, something that you've failed to accomplish might I add."

The man, his counteragent, stormed after him. "By bringing him to the mansion? Why didn't you kill him when you found him in the streets?"

"Because we do not want anyone knowing of our activities. I rather not have anyone unseemly investigating our activities at the hospital. A murder a few blocks away from the building with a blood trail leading from it would call on too much scrutiny. It is too soon to launch the next phase and we need to resupply our stores. Besides, we have other purposes for him at the moment."

"You mean finding that key for vampire evolution or something? Is there even such a thing?"

For a moment, Suveran wondered if he was surrounded by incompetence. "You and the Vampire Hunter are a lot alike," he said instead. An affronted expression covered Sharpner's face. It brought a smirk to Suveran's in turn. "You both watch too much mortal entertainment. There is no such research going on nor will there ever be. Why vampire hunters believe in such trite as an embodiment, I have no clue, but it's a legend that will cost this one his life."

"Then why did you tell the hunter all of that nonsense?"

"To break him. As beaten and bruised as I found him, it would have been so simple to take his life; yet I find such simplicity displeasing. For a foe that has caused me problems, he deserves a more lasting death."

It still mystified Suveran how readily this vampire hunter had accepted his proposal. He had to have been a fool to believe him—after all, vampires were not natural creatures. They were supernatural, a race that stood above all living things; they were better, superior in every way.

"So you mean to torture him to death," Sharpner stated bluntly, his discontent evident in his voice. "I still say you should take a knife and run it between his ribs. He is only mortal so he hasn't recovered from the damage he obtained from last night. Hell, give me the order and I'll finish him now."

"You already had your chance," Suveran snapped at him. "You will do nothing to him. He is now at my mercies, not yours, and I will dispatch of him as I see fit. You already failed in your responsibilities and I believe you would fail to kill our little pest even if he was comatose. He is mine to kill now. Do you understand?"

Sharpner stiffened. "I understand."

"Good. Now be gone. I have other arrangements to tend to."

Without waiting for a reply, Suveran left his counteragent to his own devices. The man, while unquestionably good at his job—except for this one—was a bit too stubborn for his own good. He was from one of those eastern clans that believed enemies should be disposed of immediately, rather than drawn out. It was a quaint tradition, but one he found quite boring. Yet there were more pressing matters to deal with than his subordinate's proclivity for quick deaths, particularly obtaining more Celox. That little substance was proving to be a pain in collecting, more so than he had expected. Once that hindrance of his was taken care of, the operation should go on much more smoothly.

Finding a servant who immediately began quivering in front of him, he ordered "I have a vampire hunter in the _Alb Cameră_. See to it that he doesn't leave. Also, send for the Juicer. I want him bled dry before dawn."

"Y-yes, milord," the servant stuttered before trying to put as much distance as he could between them. Of course, Suveran wasn't quite done with his instructions.

"One more thing," he called out, causing the servant to stop in his tracks. "Bottle up the blood. I believe his will make a fine addition to my stock. A couple years of aging in the cellar should make it a fine drink, wouldn't you say?"

"Of course, sire. Only the best for you," the servant groveled before taking off once more. There, he had one matter settled with minimal fuss. If only more of his underlings were as dependable.

* * *

><p>You know, I never realized how hard it was to write really sappy stuff. All of the other fanfic writers seemed to have this knack to flood their story with sappy romance so thick, you coudd pour it on to pancakes and eat it. Naturally I thought it would be easy. It seems my Y-chromosome just kept getting in the way.<p> 


	21. Chapter 21

The car rolled to a stop in front of a high metal fence, Videl staring out the front window as she blanched. Of all the places for them to end up, it had to be here. The trail that Chichi found had led them right to the Soare Clan Mansion, the last place on Earth she wanted to be. First Gohan, now Chichi was making her come to this God-forsaken place. Really, she needed to get new friends.

"Are you sure this is the place?" Videl questioned, glancing over to the older woman.

Chichi nodded her head confidently. "Yep, I can definitely sense one of our targets here," she confirmed, her eyes solely focused on the building. A second later, however, they began to drift to a different part of the mansion. "Wait, I can sense two of them. There are two people in this place with my tracking spell attached to them."

"You said you tracked two of those signals to this city right?" Videl asked. Upon seeing a nod from her friend, Videl looked back at the mansion. "At least we only have to make one trip for both of them."

Chichi grinned at her. "I knew it was a good idea to call you. Already you're bringing me luck. Now, how do we get into this place?"

Videl sighed. "You do know what this place is right?"

"Nope, not a clue."

"This is the Soare Clan Mansion. This is where all the vampires in the city come when they want to wallow in their own self-importance."

"So…you mean this place is crawling with vampires?"

"Yeah, that's exactly what I mean."

Chichi frowned at the mansion. "Then the two people we're looking for might not even be my son."

"He could be a vampire, you know."

"Perhaps," she relented. "But I ask again, do you know how to get into this place?"

"Other than the front door? There are servant entrances all over the place. Let's park the car and I'll show you to one." Falling silent, Videl steered the car away from the fence and headed a small distance away. Pulling off the road, they came to a stop next to an overgrown tree, its branches drooping down as if the weight of its leaves was more than it could bear. Turning off the engine, the two got out of the car and walked to the fence. Once they got there, Videl began walking along side of it, Chichi walking beside her and keeping quiet.

Eventually, Videl came to a stop and grabbed onto the fence, staring through its bars as she looked towards the mansion. "On the side of the mansion, do you see that small, glass building towards the back?"

Looking to Chichi, she saw the woman squinting her eyes to find the building she was speaking of, her eyes returning to normal when she did. "Yeah, I see it."

"We need to get inside of that building. That's the greenhouse and only servants ever go in there. It's where most of their food is grown since they're rarely allowed out of the mansion and the Head of the House doesn't send for supplies outside of the house often. He's cheap like that."

Chichi smirked at her for a moment before raising a hand in between them. "I have us covered here," she said to Videl's confusing. Snapping her fingers, the two were suddenly in the greenhouse, the humid air surrounding them as plant life thrived.

Looking about with wide eyes, Videl soon focused them on the witch. "You have got to teach me how to do that."

"Another time, my dear. Now, where do we go from here?"

Shaking her head, Videl tossed away her enthrallment and became serious. They had a job to do after all. "Follow me." Taking off, Videl led them to a door that opened up into a hall. The luxuriousness of it clashed with the more modest appearance of the greenhouse, but neither woman let that overwhelm them. Hurrying down the corridor, they soon turned into a branching hall, quickly moving through that one until they reached a fork. Stopping, Videl looked to Chichi and asked "So which way?"

Chichi furrowed her brow as she stared at the wall in front of them. "The closest signal is coming from in front of us. As far as I can tell, they're standing still. Do you have any idea of what could be there?"

"There are a few audience chambers in this part of the mansion if I'm not mistaken," Videl replied. "To get to them, we go left."

"Then left it is."

They hurried down the corridor, though by this point something began bothering Videl. Where was everyone? This was the mansion, so it should have been crawling with activity. There was no sign of the usual hustle and bustle of the servants, nor the prowling of various vampires. It was starting to unnerve to girl. Yeah, she had infiltrated the mansion before, but it wasn't this easy to do.

The longer they went unopposed, the more she felt uncomfortable. Something was wrong, she could feel it. Even as they turned into a hallway with curtains lining one side of the hall, the feeling grew worse and worse. However, the curtains were drawn open at various points, revealing wide open doorways which light poured out of. Slowing down, the two women approached the nearest opening, being careful not to disturb the drapes. On the other side of the opening was a balcony, a stone railing sitting atop miniature marble columns lined its edge. Beyond the railing, they could hear loud voices, making the two pause and look at each other.

Cautiously, they moved through the opening, keeping themselves low and peered through the openings the columns provide, seeing a large gathering of vampires below. The room itself was reminiscent of a throne room composed completely out of marble with identical balconies lining the walls, three on opposite sides of the room. On the floor was a rich red carpet the rolled from a set of doors on the bottom floor and crossed the room until it reached a dais on the opposite side. On the dais was what was best described as a throne, a vampire with neatly brushed hair and an expensive suit standing in front of it.

Though she didn't recognize the vampire, she did recognize another vampire that approached him, that one being Crane. With the way Crane was deferring to the other vampire, Videl assumed that he was Crane's boss. "I must ask of you, milord," Crane was saying, standing meekly in front of his leader. "The Celox you're so intent on collecting, why are you? I believe I speak for the rest of us when I ask you of this."

The vampire looked at Crane irritated. "I would have thought our trip to the hospital would have explained that to you."

"But we were interrupted by that vampire hunter. We never heard Baisser's report."

"And you didn't have someone retrieve his research? I'm disappointed with you Crane. Fortunately I had no such lapse and had the report delivered shortly after we returned to the mansion last night."

"I apologize for that error, milord, but even so, the rest of the men wouldn't know its purpose even if they had been allowed to read the report."

A hand went to the vampire's face as he pressed it and moved it about, causing his face to contort somewhat; it was his way of showing exasperation, Videl observed. "Very well, I see your point," he acquiesced. "As you know, when a mortal has an open wound, the body causes certain portions of the blood to clot and seal the opening. For some mortals though, their ability to do this is hampered and thus require the Celox to stimulate this ability. As vampires, we have an accelerated healing factor that renders this process useless."

Several of the vampires below looked to each other, the reasoning still escaping them. To be fair though, Videl was having a tough time understand as well. "However, both races have the same blood flowing through their veins. While the mortals can continuously create more blood, vampires must drink the blood of others to obtain theirs, thus restricting the amount of blood within them. Now, the report shows that if you administer the Celox to a vampire, it will cause the blood inside them to clot, decreasing the blood flow and the amount of blood within their body. With the lack of blood, the vampire's body begins to shut down and eventually dies due to what the body thinks is a lack of blood."

Crane seemed to catch on to what his boss was talking about at that point. "You mean this stuff could kill a vampire? Like a poison?"

"That's exactly right," the vampire said, his eyes coming to life. "We can kill any vampire by slipping this into any blood source they have access to. The blood banks, the hidden stores in each mansion, everything. And the best part, they wouldn't know what was going on until it was too late."

By this point, the rest of the vampires had similar looks to their leader's, except for Crane. He still seemed to be piecing something together. "So we use this Celox to poison our own kind. Why? I don't see the point in trying to kill our own kind with this stuff."

"That's because you're not thinking big," the vampire declared. "Why eliminate small fry when you can go after the big fish?"

"You mean…the Council?" Crane spoke carefully.

"Now you're getting it. Going against one of them head on is suicide and I do not play the fool to anyone. With the Celox, we can take out each and every one of them without them being the wiser."

"So that's the plan? Just poison them and seize power?"

"In a nutshell, I suppose," the vampire admitted. "Of course there would be a breakout of turmoil as other vampires tried to fill the power vacuum our coup will create. Leaping into a bloodbath like this would be utterly reckless of us. That is why we aren't putting all of our eggs into one basket. You did remember to bring the package I requested."

"Yes, milord!" Crane said, his voice rising in volume. "You there," he pointed at a nearby vampire. "Retrieve the package."

Immediately, the vampire bowed and left the room. It didn't take him long to return with a jewel-encrusted box, the light glimmering on it as the sight of it stole the breath of anyone who laid eyes on it. There was a large yellow jewel on the top of the box, cut into the shape of the sun. It had a round center with wavy spikes extending from it to portray sun raises. As stoic as he could look, the vampire carried it to the lead vampire and held it out to him.

"Now, if we are to create a power vacuum, we obviously will need an ace up our sleeve when the power struggle starts," the vampire explained. At this, he opened the box, an even brighter glow emerging from within. A large smile grew on the vampire's lips, his eyes sparkling with mirth. "And this is our ace. It is a weapon I have spent most of my immortality searching for and now it is in my possession. With this, we will be unstoppable."

Out of the corner of her eye, Videl noticed Chichi pale abruptly. Turning to look at her, she noticed the witch staring intently at the box, terror creating a mask on her face. "What is it?" Videl whispered to her. "What's wrong?"

Immediately, Chichi grabbed her shoulder and began pulling her away from the balcony, stopping when they were back in the hallway. "Chichi, you're starting to scare me," the dark-haired girl said, worry in her voice.

"That box," the woman eventually said, "I don't know what's in it, but I can feel immense magical energies from it. What ever his plans are for it, he can't be allowed to use it."

"How bad is this thing?" Videl questioned, her eyes enlarging as her friend began to fret.

Chichi paused for a moment, trying to order her thoughts before she spoke. "Think of it this way: if this guy is going to a knife fight, he's bringing a tank with him." At that, Videl could feel her stomach drop. This just couldn't be good. "We have to get whatever's in that box away from him, no matter what."

At this Videl nodded her head. However, something else occurred to her. "But what about the people we're looking for in this place? We can't exactly look for them if we have to fight a vampire hoard."

Chichi bit her lip at that, her eyes flicking over to the doorway for a moment before looking back at Videl. Closing her eyes, she began to concentrate on something, what the girl didn't know, but soon a growl came from her witch friend. "That man in there, he's the one my spell is attached to."

Videl turned to look out the doorway and stared for a moment. "I really hope that's not your son."

"Of course he isn't," Chichi hastily confirmed. "All it means is that he was in the same area as my son for what ever reason."

Looking back at the witch, Videl couldn't help but voice a growing possibility, at least a growing one to her. "I hate to say this, but do you think your son may have become a vampire?"

That gave Chichi pause for a moment, but a very brief one. "He…may have," she croaked out, but then shook her head to calm herself. "Regardless, there are more important matters at the moment. We have to get our hands on that box."

Videl nodded her head. "What do you want me to do? I don't know what kind of use I can be in there, but I've got your back."

Chichi gave her a small smile before something struck her. "Wait, perhaps you can do something else." Looking around, the witch frowned at the hallway, not finding what she was seeking. "Do you have something small, something you can hold it in your hand?"

Immediately, Videl began searching her pockets, pulling out a few coins and her car keys. "I have these," she said hesitantly."

"They'll have to do." Grabbing one of the coins, Chichi mumbled something incoherent—at least to Videl's ears they were. A second later, the coin began to glow a faint blue. "I've made this coin sensitive to my tracking spell," Chichi began to explain. "The closer you are to the source, the bluer it will get. Find the other person here with the spell attached."

Videl blinked at that. "How will I know if he's your son?"

"Just…find someway to keep in touch with him. When this is over, we can arrange for a meeting. In the meantime, I'm going to get that box."

This time Videl nodded her head. "Okay, I'll take care of it." Pausing for a moment, she looked deep into Chichi's eyes. "Are you sure about this?"

"Positive," she replied with a reluctant expression. "Now go. Things are about to get rowdy."

* * *

><p>Chichi watched as Videl hurried away. Sighing, she steeled her nerve before heading back to the balcony. Checking to make sure the vampires were still there, she used her teleportation spell to move herself quickly to the bottom floor, standing behind all of the vampires. This of course put her in direct sight of the lead vampire.<p>

Jerking his head back from her sudden appearance, his eyes bacame ablaze with rage. "Who are you?" he demanded, causing all of his men to look behind them and see her. "How did you get in here?"

"My name is not important," Chichi said, keeping herself calm. Focusing on the jewel-encrusted box, she pointed a finger at it and said "You have opened a forbidden chest. It calls for me to reclaim it. I ask of you to turn it over to me for resealment."

The vampire narrowed his eyes at her. "A guardian I see. I should have expected as much from a powerful artifact. Unfortunately, I cannot acquiescent to your demand Guardian. This artifact is too important to me."

"I must insist," Chichi pressed. "You are dealing with powers you do not fully understand."

"Oh, I believe I understand them, Guardian," the vampire scoffed. "I have done my research on this artifact. I know that it was made by the gods of the ancient world as proof of their existence to all mortals. However, most mortals have chosen a new god to follow, so I do not see any reason to return something which has been cast aside. In fact, I will not cast away a weapon such as this; I know the power it holds."

Reaching into the opened box, the vampire removed what appeared to be a mask made of solid gold. Its face was smooth like a porcelain mask, expressionless with lidless, blank eyes. A jewel in the same cut as the one on the box protruded from the forehead, resting beneath a bejeweled crown. The light bounced off of its polished surface, nearly blinding anyone that looked into it. "I, Omul de Suveran, am now the keeper of this artifact and all of its power. It is as much mine as it is the Sun God's, for which it resembles." A grin appeared on Suveran's face as he lifted the mask to his face. "And I see no reason not to test its power."

Suveran then pressed his face into the mask and removed his hands, the mask staying on his face. Chichi could feel dread well up in her stomach as the very threads of the magic realm reverberated, lashing out from the sudden disturbances the mask created as its powers were assumed.

It was then that Chichi felt another presence behind her. Turning her head, she found the vampire Suveran standing behind her, the blank, irisless eyes of the mask staring right at her. Jerking her head around, she saw no sign of Suveran ever standing near the throne. As she turned her head back, she just managed to catch the vampire swinging a fist at her.

Had it not been for instincts, the punch would have caved in her skull. On instinct, she had put up a barrier spell just in time for the fist to hit it, the power of it crushing the barrier and subsequently sending her flying through the air and across the room. Her flight came to a stop when she hit the wall, letting out a cry of pain before dropping to the floor. Part of the marble composing the wall cracked and broke into pieces, sprinkling her with bits and pieces of debris.

Panting as she recovered herself, Chichi unsteadily pushed herself off the floor, standing in a crouched position. Before her, the crowd of vampires parted to either side of the room, Suveran strolling towards her leisurely. Shaking her head to clear it of the pounding going on in it, she called upon an offensive spell, a ball of fire forming in the palm of one of her hands. Growling, she thrust her hand out and fired the fireball at the vampire, aiming to burn him to death.

However, Suveran merely batted the fireball away with the back of his hand. The fireball flew high into the air and collided with a wall, sending out flames in a small radius of the impact site. "Surely you can do better than that," Suveran's voice came out. It was strange sounding, as if it were hollowed out and casted out with a bullhorn. It was the most clear, yet contorted voice she had ever heard. "This mask belonged to the Sun God. Fire means nothing to me."

"Then how about this?" Chichi called out as she called upon another magic spell, slapping her hand on the floor before her to channel it. A moment later, the floor in front of Suveran exploded, a large wooden spike shooting up and impaling him through the torso, the vampire's body slumping on the diagonal spike.

For a moment, Suveran just hung there motionless. Then his head perked up, his arms moving to place his hands further down the wooden spike. "Much better," he approved. "Had I been my usual self, that would have killed me." At this point, smoke began to waft around his hands, rising up in increasingly larger puffs of smoke. "However, this mask does more than give me immunity to fire." The spike then burst into flames, Suveran waiting a few seconds before moving himself to stand up straight, the spike breaking around where his hands were, leaving a charred stump of the pike on the floor as blacked pieces sprinkled to the floor from his front and back.

As the charred fragments fell, Chichi could see a large hole ripped out of the vampire's shirt, parts of his suit jacket frayed somewhat. However, the damage done to his clothes were not reflected on his body as unmarked skin was revealed through the hole.

"I am now more than just a mere vampire. I am Suveran, the Sun God!" the vampire declared.

Chichi did not like the sound of that one bit.


	22. Chapter 22

Sorry for the delay guys. I utterly forgot about posting this chapter yesterday and it only hit me as I got back from my night class that I hadn't even done the editing yet. I'm sure y'all can forgive me for that...hopefully...eventually.

* * *

><p>Gohan hurt. A lot. It was throughout his entire body and he faintly wondered if it would ever stop. The only reason it was a faint thought was because the rest of his brain was too focused on how much he was in pain.<p>

They had said they wanted his blood. He had thought they meant a sample's worth, not nearly half the blood flowing through his body—at least that's what it felt like they were taking. Even now he wasn't too sure what they had done, but it had hurt and now he could barely move himself on the metal table he was lying on. They had even strapped him to the table, claiming that they wanted to make sure he didn't make any ill-advised movements, like rolling off the table. Add that to the experience he had just gone through and Gohan was starting to think that something was very wrong.

The only thing stopping him from leaving was the fact he had lost so much blood. How he was still alive—and conscious to boot—he had no clue, but half of him wanted to pass out. Right now his body was trying to recover from that trauma, reproducing as many red blood cells as it could, but that would take time and that was something that was very limited at the moment.

Cracking his eyes open for the umpteenth time, Gohan took in the bright lights that hung from the ceiling. This room was starting to become painfully white to him, despite the fact it was this way when he had entered it. Not even his blurred vision could change that. He was alone at the moment, silence filling the passing seconds as his body let him know it didn't appreciate the last couple of hours.

A sharp clicking went off, what it was Gohan wasn't sure. There was a heavy thud, but he paid no mind to it. What did he care what happened at the moment? He was way too out of it to care.

"You're still alive," a voice grumbled to him, causing Gohan to frown. That…that had sounded familiar. A dark shape began to impede his view of the bright lights above him, the young man focusing on the darkness. It began very apparent that the dark shape was a person, though he wasn't able to see their features. "Good. At least this won't be for nothing now." That was when the shape shifted slightly, followed by the sound of buckles snapping. All the while, Gohan put more of his focus on the person, trying to identify them.

It took a few seconds, but the form of a man began to take shape, one with long hair. As more of his features became noticeable, an alarm went off in Gohan's head. "You…"

"You recognize me," the man said, pausing as he looked to him. "You are not so far gone as I feared you would be. You still look like shit, but I can work with this."

This guy, it was that counteragent. What on Earth was he doing here? And why was he releasing him from the straps? "Wh…what are…you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing, Vampire Hunter? I am getting you out of here."

"Huh?" was all Gohan could manage at the moment as he felt his bonds loosening, then disappearing entirely. "Why?"

"Because you were stupid enough to let Suveran convince you to commit suicide," Sharpner said, scorn in his voice. "I would have expected much better from you."

"What are you…talking about?"

"It can't be all that hard to figure out. He talked you into coming here and letting yourself be tortured to death. Just look at yourself if you don't believe me."

Ah, so his growing apprehension had been right. Crap, he really had screwed up this time. "Why are you helping me?"

"You and I have a score to settle, Vampire Hunter. I will not let anyone get in the way of that, even my boss. Now hush up or I'll gag you to be quiet. I'm getting you out of here."

Gohan just nodded his head. Well, more like his head limply flopped to a side and he moved it enough to make some sort of nod. He wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth at this point.

"How much of you can you move?" Sharpner questioned him once all the straps were undone. Taking several deep breaths, Gohan put as much strength as he could into rolling himself over, nearly falling off the table though his legs hung off limply. "Not much," the blond vampire affirmed. "Fine, I'll have to carry you out of here."

Carried by a vampire? Uh uh, that was not going to happen. Somehow he managed to summon enough energy to growl, pushing himself to his feet before collapsing back into the table. "At least you can get on your feet," Sharpner said before grabbing onto the young man. Lifting him up, Sharpner maneuvered Gohan until he was standing somewhat up, an arm around the dark-haired youth's waist while his own arm was on the vampire's shoulders. Most of his weight was put onto the counteragent, but he showed no sign of being burdened. "Let's go. Security shouldn't be a problem."

It was by this point that Gohan's vision had cleared up enough for him to view his surroundings better. The white room now had some color by the door, courtesy of a dead vampire bleeding out his red bodily fluids.

After stumbling over the body they came upon several more outside of the room, various vampires sprawled on the carpeted floor or slouched against the walls. Apparently Sharpner had to kill his way into the room, which meant that security would definitely be light as they left. As they crossed the blood-splattered floor, they eventually left the scene and entered another corridor, leaving the dead bodies behind them.

* * *

><p>Videl hurried down the hallways, keeping an eye out for any vampires or servants she could come across, all the while glancing down at that magic-induced coin in her hand.<p>

She had wandered for a bit, trying to find the trail that would lead to the second man with Chichi's spell attached. It had taken much longer than she would have liked, but the coin had steadily been growing more and more blue. As per Chichi's instructions, Videl took this to mean she was closing in on the guy.

Turning a corner, she came to a screeching halt, her eyes widening at the sight in front of her. Two men were standing a small distance from her, one she immediately recognized as Gohan and she couldn't help but notice how horrible he looked. The other guy had long blond hair and a suit speckled with blood and looked as if he were supporting most of Gohan's weight. Faintly, she thought he looked familiar, but that thought disappeared as the blond growled and said "Just great, we've got company."

Videl held up her hands in front of her, giving them a wave as she tried to put the blond guy at ease. "I mean you no harm," she said quickly and would have said something else had her eyes not caught sight of the coin. A blue aura had formed around the coin, its shade the bluest she had ever seen. She would have said it was as blue as the sky, but it had been so long since she had actually seen a blue sky that she wasn't sure if that was an adequate description. Regardless, Gohan and this guy were one of the people with Chichi's spell attached to them. This was great!

In the meantime, Gohan's head wobbled around, trying to look at her through squinted eyes. "Videl?" he asked. "What are you…doing here?"

"You know her?" the blond guy questioned, looking between her and Gohan. Videl stiffened at the charge. After all these years and lectures, the guy had just blurted out their connection for all to hear in the middle of the enemy stronghold, not to mention that one of the enemy was currently propping him up like a puppet. This just couldn't end well.

As the blond guy focused on her, a look of suspicion lit up his eyes. "But she's a vampire," he stated. "Why would you know a vampire? Don't tell me she's one that got away from you." His eyes then narrowed and he glanced down at Gohan. "But you know her by name so that can't be it. You've had to have recognized her for what she was the first time you saw her so you can't claim to not know she was a vampire. So what's your connection?"

Gohan never removed his eyes from Videl, staring at her though she wasn't sure if he was comprehending anything that was going on around him. After several moments, he finally managed to spit out "She did the same thing you're doing."

What the heck did that mean? What was this guy doing that she had done too? "So she helped you out," the blond summarized.

"You weren't supposed to tell anyone," Videl hissed at the hunter, her rage showing up on her face. Really, his timing for confessions was truly terrible.

"It's not like he can tell anyone," Gohan replied. Taking a breath, he continued "You caught him helping me out too…so you both have dirt on each other." For a brief moment, Videl felt slightly relieved—very slightly—but it still didn't excuse him for outing her. "Now if you would be so kind…we're trying to get out of here."

At that, the two men began moving towards her. Once they reached her though, Videl instinctively went to Gohan's other side and lifted his arm onto her shoulders, wrapping her arm around his waist like the blond. At that, Gohan looked at her oddly, but she ignored the look. If she and him were going to have that talk like she had wanted, he needed to get out of here as soon as possible. Fortunately, she had a ride out of here. "My car's outside of the mansion," she explained to them as they moved down the corridors. "I can get you away from here in that."

While the blond nodded his head, Gohan continued to look at her. "What are you doing here?" he eventually asked.

She was about to answer him when Videl remembered Chichi. Jerking her head up, she then said frightened "My friend! We have to go help her! She's fighting a bunch of vampires!"

"That's good for us," the blond spoke up. "While they're focused on her, they'll never notice us going out the backdoor."

"You don't understand, she said one of the vampires had some kind of artifact. Something that he shouldn't have and she had to get it away from him. Otherwise it won't matter if we leave this place or not!"

For a moment the blond guy looked as if he were about to say something snide, but Gohan interrupted him. "What did it…look like?"

"I'm not sure what it was," Videl admitted, "but it was in this box covered with gems. And it had a really big jewel on the lid in the shape of a sun."

Gohan's eyes glazed over for a moment, like he had drifted off into a different world. Then they snapped back into focus, a determination in them that brought hope to her. "The Mask of Apollōn," he stated, his voice sounding stronger. "Vampires have been searching for that for millennia, Suveran in particular." Then his voice weakened. "Or was it Slaba? Both?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Sharpner said, looking at the young man incredulously. "Who the heck is Slaba and what does he have to do with Suveran?"

Gohan shook his head. "They're the same person…I think. Suveran acted weird when I called him that. Anyways, he and a bunch of vampires tore down a city in ancient times looking for the mask. I and a bunch of other vampire hunters held them off and rehid the mask."

"You're not making any sense. Tore apart a city? Ancient times? There's no way you were back then to even know that and how in the heck would Suveran even be alive then? He only appeared recently."

"Sorry, confusing myself with the embodiment. A pred—"

"You mean that thing Suveran tricked you with?" the man interrupted. "You can't possibly believe in that."

"Then how would you explain me punching you through a wall, Sharpner? There aren't any normal humans that can do that."

The Sharpner guy growled. "Just say I believe you for the moment, what do you know about this mask? What does this thing do?"

Videl felt Gohan shrug his shoulders. "The mask gives the wearer the powers of the Sun God. That's why it was hidden in the first place and never in a sun temple or something to do with the sun. Too easy to find it that way. We managed to keep it hidden from any vampires…and this cult of sun worshipers once, but that's another story. And if Suveran has managed to find it, we have to get it back."

Videl eyed Gohan at that. With the way he had said that and the look on his face, it almost reminded her of Chichi. The witch's determination about getting the mask was reminiscent of Gohan's right now. It could have been her mind just putting a square peg into a round hole since the alternative could have that Sharpner guy being Chichi's son and she sincerely hoped that wasn't the case.

"So where is this friend of yours?" Sharpner asked as the hurried down the hallway.

"At one of the audience chambers. I'll lead us there," Videl answered.

"Hey, how did you find out about the mask?" Gohan asked as they plowed ahead, his head tilting towards her. "I doubt he just showed it for all to see."

"Well," Videl began hesitantly. "He kinda did. Then had a whole speech about it and his plan for world domination."

Gohan was silent for a moment. Then "Ha! Told you there was always a villain that revealed his plan at the end."

Videl scowled. "Oh shut up."

* * *

><p>She was Chichi, former apprentice to the Witch of the Western Desert. She had undergone years of training to become a respectable witch all for the sole purpose of tracking down her runaway son. Through her travels, she had been in a few unfortunate confrontations requiring her to use her magic to defend herself and fend off dangerous foes. Since she was in the here and now, she had been successful in those encounters<p>

So why was this fight. Not. Going. Her. WAY!

Every spell she could think of had been rendered useless by this masked vampire, the vampire merely shrugging them off and asking for more. By this point, she had been reduced to firing pure magical energy at the guy and she still wasn't making any headway. Due to the exertion, she was kneeling on the floor, a hand pressed onto the floor to keep her upright. This was really starting to get on her nerves.

Gathering her latest magical energies into her hand, Chichi threw it at the approaching Suveran, who merely batted it away from him with a swing of his arm. The energy flew into a wall and detonated against it, sending out purple flames and dark smoke into the air. Once the smoke cleared, a large burned spot discolored the polished wall.

"You're beginning to bore me," Suveran said, his tone matching his words. "Do you have any other tricks or is this all you have left?"

Chichi growled at that. Unfortunately, she really was at her limit. That mask was proving to be too much for her to combat against and this vampire seemed to know exactly how it could be used. She needed to separate the two if she was going to stand a chance at surviving this.

Wait, that was it! Focusing her magic, she flung it at the vampire, aiming to rip the mask right off of his face. Immediately, Suveran bent backwards as his legs remained firmly planted on the floor, letting out a startled cry as the mask jerked on his face. His arms sticking out into the air on either side of him, jerking about at random moments.

Then his body froze. It was several moments before he straightened himself out, the mask still on his face as if nothing had happened. "Smart move," he commended, straightening out his scruffy coat, damaged from several of her previous attacks. Too bad the vampire didn't look anything like the coat. "But one cannot simply remove the Sun God's mask by force. It would be like stopping the sun from shinning. I'm afraid you've run out of options, Guardian."

Chichi could feel dread welling up inside of her. That had been her last-ditch effort there and now she had no hope of leaving his room alive. It was a depressing thing to think about. Well, if she was going to be meeting this unfortunate fate, she would do so standing. Slowly, the witch moved to the nearby throne and used it to pull herself off the ground. Leaning against it, she faced Suveran and awaited what ever he had in store for her.

Around the room, vampires that had managed to stay out of the crossfire looked on in anticipation. The more their leader fended her off, the more excited they became. It was as if this whole thing was reaffirming their loyalty to this Suveran guy, that he was unstoppable with this great power of his.

"I see you've accepted your fate," Suveran spoke as he began to approach her, his arms held behind his back. "I admire that, you know. To see a foe accept their destiny when there is no recourse for them. More humans could use such a trait."

Chichi didn't bother answering him. She hated not being able to fight him off, submitting when she was cornered with no way out. There was no white knight coming to save her here.

A tingling sensation ran through her body, alerting the witch to Suveran as he gathered magical energies towards him. Holding his hands in front of him, one hand clenched into a fist as the other enveloped it, crackling sounds being made as he cracked his knuckles. "Feel privileged, Guardian. You will be the first of many to fall before my might, a singular honor. I vow to remember you fondly when I hold the world in the palm of my hand."

Chichi just stared him down, resisting the urge to look away. She could only imagine the smug expression on his face as the mask hid it from sight. Calming her breathing, she stood as strong and proud as she could as her last few seconds ticked away.

Well, as it turned out, she had two not quite white knights appear then. From one of the balconies, two figures leapt into the air and angled their flights to slam into Suveran, sending the vampire flying off his feet and skidding across the floor. Chichi wasn't able to get a good look at them as her vision decided to get fuzzy at the moment, but she couldn't deny the relief she felt at being handed a few extra seconds of life.

That was when Chichi felt a presence at her side. Turning her head to look, her vision cleared and she found Videl standing next to her, placing a hand on her shoulder as her eyes looked at her worried. "You don't look too good, Chichi," she greeted.

"What are you doing here?" Chichi demanded. "I told you to find the other spellbound person here, not help me. Now you've just gotten yourself killed!"

"Don't worry, I found the guy," Videl reassured her. "He had a friend with him too, so now we're the cavalry."

"Um dear, I don't think you'll be much help," Chichi deadpanned. "In case you haven't noticed, I've been exhausted by this guy and I've been using every magic spell I know. What can you possibly do that I can't?"

Videl looked over to Suveran, who was just getting to his feet. "Don't worry about that. We just have to get his mask off."

"Brilliant deduction, dear, but I already tried that. It didn't work."

This time, Videl grinned at her. "Again, don't worry. Me and that…uhh…the blond guy know exactly what to do."


	23. Chapter 23

"The balcony is right around this corner," Videl informed them. As they turned it, the familiar drape-covered walls greeted them, something Videl found very relieving.

Then the whole place shook violently, throwing them to the floor.

"Ow," Gohan said, his voice muffled from the carpet his face was currently pressed into. Turning his head to a side, he then said "You know, I would've preferred you two setting me down instead of that."

"What the hell is going on?" Sharpner demanded as he pushed himself off the floor. His head turned towards the balcony as they heard some voices, followed by another violent tremor. "Is that some kind of fight?"

Moving towards the balcony, Videl peered through the opening, finding the gathering of vampires staying clear of two individuals. One of them she recognized as Chichi, which caused a feeling of relief to well up insider her, followed by concern for her ragged-looking appearance. The other person she couldn't tell, mostly because he had a mask on his face.

Wait a second, a mask?

"Gohan, what does that Sun God mask look like?" she asked.

Somehow, Gohan had rolled himself onto his back and dragged himself to a wall opposite to the balcony entrance to lean against it. "Smooth, covered in gold, has a large jewel shaped like the sun in its forehead."

"Suveran must have put it on," Sharpner grumbled as he too looked through the opening. "Yeah, that's definitely him. His suit looks a bit trashed though." Looking to Chichi, he stared at her for a moment before asking, "Who's the woman?"

"That's my friend," Videl replied. "She's a witch and she's seen better days, I assure you."

Upon watching Chichi throw a sphere of pure magic at the supposed-Suveran, the vampire batting it away harmlessly, Videl winced. "This doesn't look good. I think he's gonna kill her." Jerking her head to look to Gohan, she pleaded "We have to save her."

"And how do you suppose we do that?" Sharpner asked with a sarcastic tone to his voice. "What ever tricks that witch has, Suveran isn't batting an eye at them. We can't just go in charging and expect to beat him."

Staring at Gohan pleadingly, Videl saw Gohan lean his head back against the wall, his face tiled up to the ceiling with his eyes shut. His breathing was labored, which added another concern to her growing list. "You have to take the mask off," he eventually said.

Again, Sharpner said sarcastically "Oh, I would've never thought about that. Can you tell us anything else?"

Suddenly, they all heard a loud cry, returning their attention to the audience room. Staring, Sharpner and Videl watched as the masked vampire's body contorted backwards, held that stance, then straightened out as if nothing had happened. "Smart move," Suveran said. "But one cannot simply remove the Sun God's mask by force. It would be like stopping the sun from shinning. I'm afraid you've run out of options, Guardian."

"So witchery won't work," Sharpner growled. "Would force work?"

"Moonlight," Gohan wheezed out, catching the two vampires' attention. "The mask will come off if exposed to moonlight."

"Are you kidding me?" Sharpner asked incredulously. "How the heck is moonlight supposed to do that?"

"Think about it," Gohan replied, a pause following. "In ancient lore…the sun and moon were opposites. If the sun grants strength…the moon is the weakness."

Videl turned to completely face the vampire hunter. "So the mask gets its power from the sun? But it's night right now; should it not be working right now?"

"It's at its strongest…with the sun. Right now is the best time…to take it off. Just expose the mask to moonlight."

"Alright then, we get this guy outside," Sharpner said. "Anyone have an idea of where the moon is? We don't want to go outside just to have the moon on the opposite side of the mansion."

"Leave that to me," Videl spoke. "Do you think you can hold Suveran off for a little bit?"

"Maybe. I've never fought someone who can treat magic like a hot potato."

"I see you've accepted your fate," Suveran's booming voice interrupted their conversation. Moving slowly onto the balcony, the two vampires looked over the railing and saw the masked vampire closing in on Chichi, who looked resigned to what he had in store for her. Well, that was going to have to change.

Taking off, Videl and Sharpner simultaneously launched themselves off the balcony, the air whipping them in the face as they flew through it, closing in on Suveran. Angling her body, Videl stiffened her legs in front of her, seeing Sharpner leaning forward with his shoulder out of the corner of her eye. At the same time, their blows hit Suveran, Shaprner's shoulder ramming into his body as Videl's feet implanted themselves on his masked face. The vampire went flying off his feet, leaving the two of them landing right where he had once stood, watching him land on the floor.

Immediately, Videl shot over to Chichi, who looked on the verge of collapsing. "You don't look too good, Chichi," she commented.

"What are you doing here?" Chichi demanded, anger appearing on her face. "I told you to find the other spellbound person here, not help me. Now you've just gotten yourself killed!"

Eye on the prize huh? Well, she would just have to assure the witch she had done as told. "Don't worry, I found the guy," Videl reassured her. "He had a friend with him too, so now we're the cavalry."

Chichi gave her a disbelieving look. "Um dear, I don't think you'll be much help," she deadpanned. "In case you haven't noticed, I've been exhausted by this guy and I've been using every magic spell I know. What can you possibly do that I can't?"

Videl turned her head to look over at Suveran, who was climbing to his feet, taking his time as he went about it. "Don't worry about that. We just have to get his mask off."

"Brilliant deduction, dear, but I already tried that. It didn't work."

Okay, Chichi's attitude was starting to get old. She was just going to have to burst her know-it-all attitude. Grinning at her, Videl replied "Again, don't worry. Me and that…uhh…" Oh great, she had already forgot the guy's name. This was going to be annoying. "…the blond guy know exactly what to do."

"What are you doing?" Suveran's deep, hollowed voice demanded, cutting their conversation short. The eyes of the mask bore into the blond vampire as if to pry the answer from him. "I don't remember ordering you to attack me, Sharpner."

Ah, so Sharpner was his name. Videl would try to remember it this time. However, there were more pressing issues at the moment. "Chichi," she whispered hastily to the witch. "I need to know if you can get us some moonlight. Blow a hole in the wall or something, you know?"

Chichi looked to her and stared. "Umm, yeah I think I can do that," she answered. "But why?"

"That's how we take the mask off. The guy you put your spell on knew about this thing and told me about it."

"I hope he's right," Chichi muttered. "Cause if this doesn't work, we're all dead."

A loud scream interrupted their conversation. Turning their heads, they saw Sharpner being punched in the face, a blow that sent him flying across the room and slamming into the wall, a spider web of cracks erupting around his impact site. Dropping to the floor, the blond's hands went straight to his face, clutching it as he let out muffled cries of pain.

Suddenly, Suveran was standing over him, looking down on him. "Your insolence will not be tolerated," he stated. He then drew a leg back and swung it forward, kicking Sharpner in the stomach and sending him back into the wall, bouncing off of it and right back into Suveran. Catching him with one hand, the mask vampire then twisted his body around and threw Sharpner towards the other side of the room, Sharpner crashing into the wall and dropping to the floor shortly after.

"Umm, now would be a good time to get that moon," Videl said nervously.

"Yeah…right," Chichi responded, her eyes transfixed on the beating. Slowly, she began looking about the room. "Umm, do your remember where the moon was tonight?"

"I'm pretty sure it was at the front of the house."

"I'm gonna rip off your arms and beat you to death with them!" Sharpner suddenly shouted, back on his feet. There was a large, dark bruise appearing below one of his eyes, bordering his nose, a trickle of blood leaking from it. Baring his teeth, the blond charged at Suveran throwing a punch at him. In response, Suveran seemed to blur and shot away from Sharpner, leaving a blurred trail in his wake before coming to focus a small distance away. Not deterred, Sharpner sped after him, kicking at him instead and getting the same blurred response.

All around him, Suveran moved about, the blond vampire giving chase, his breathing slowly becoming heavier. A missed punch here, a missed kick there, and Sharpner's aggravation grew. "Hold still, you maggot!"

Then Suveran shot in on the blond and leveled him with a punch to his stomach. Sharpner slammed into the wall behind him, collapsing to the ground in a crumpled heap. "There was your chance," the masked vampire taunted. "I was standing right in front of you and you didn't attack. I swear, I must have overpaid you for your services. Perhaps I should remedy that situation, yes?"

"Umm, now would be a good time for that moon," Videl pressed anxiously.

Chichi looked about the room wildly. "Where is it, where is it," she muttered before giving up. "Oh who cares?" Pointing a hand towards the corner of the room up towards the ceiling, she shouted "Burst!" Instantly, the corner blew apart, a large chuck of the ceiling falling to the floor along with parts of the surrounding walls. Dusting and smoke spread throughout the room, slowly dissipating.

Fortunately, it seemed Chichi guessed right about where the moon was. A large open hole was revealed through the fading smoke, a clear sight of the night's sky showing. Slightly off-center of the hole was the moon, somewhere between half-full and full, and beaming down its rays into the room. For a moment, Videl wondered if the moon had to be full in order for Gohan's idea to work. She pushed that thought aside though when she noticed Suveran staring towards the hole.

Gritting her teeth, Videl then rushed at the vampire, leaping at him at the last second with her arms out to knock the mask off.

Faster than she could blink, Suveran was facing her, grabbing onto her wrists with his hands. "I don't believe we've had the pleasure of meeting before," he spoke to her, boring his covered eyes into hers. "Allow me to make the introductions. I am Suveran, the God of the Sun and you are soon to be a corpse. Pleased to meet you."

Pouring as much of her strength into her arms as she could, Videl struggled against his grip, finding her efforts to be useless. The next thing she knew, Suveran's knee imbedded itself into her stomach, causing an immense amount of pain to flood her system as she bent over it, a choked gasp of pain leaving her lips.

"Is that it?" Suveran spoke disapprovingly. "I would have expected more than one blow to take down a vampire. Perhaps I've just become stronger than I thought. Or you're much, _much_ weaker than you look, though that isn't saying much."

Spitting blood from her mouth, Videl tilted her head up to scowl at him, her teeth bared savagely at him. "I'll make you regret that," she hissed at him.

"I find that rather doubtful."

Suddenly, Videl felt the two of them being pushed forward, Suveran's bent leg going down to the floor to stabilize him as Videl dropped to her knees, her arms still grasped by the vampire. Keeping her eyes on Suveran, she saw Sharpner on top of their foe, his elbows pressed into the vampire's shoulders, palms pressed into the sides of the mask and his fingers curled around its edges to give him a better grip on it. Letting out a cry, he put as much of his strength as he could into his arms and pushed forward, the mask flying off in response. Videl didn't know where it landed, but she heard several loud sounds a moment later, signifying that the mask had hit the ground and bounced on it a few times. Her eyes on the other hand had moved to look at the hole in the roof, seeing the moon shining down through it and its pale light enveloping them.

So Gohan had been right after all. Thank G—

Suddenly, Videl felt herself pulled off the floor and swung into the air. The next thing she knew, she collided with a body and the hands gripping her wrists disappeared. Videl and the unknown body fell to the floor shortly after, sliding into the wall and stopping completely. "Ow," Videl whined as she lay motionless on the floor.

"I second that," she heard Sharpner agree a moment later. So that's who she hit.

"What the hell is going on?" Suveran roared, his voice echoing around the room. "The mask wasn't supposed to come off! How did that happen?"

Huh, so this guy didn't even know how to take the mask off? Hadn't he researched this thing since he had been looking for it for so long? What ever, it didn't matter. At least now he didn't have that mask on. Pushing up against the floor, Videl found herself drop back down. Winching, Videl stifled a growl. Oh great, that hit to the gut had done more damage than she had thought. Now how was she supposed to kill this guy? Sharpner didn't seem to be in any hurry to get up and Chichi looked like she was about to collapse from exhaustion. This was definitely not the way to fight vampires.

* * *

><p>It had taken awhile, but Gohan had managed to drag himself onto the balcony. With everyone's attention on the fight below, no one saw him through the balcony railing, resting his shoulder against it as he watched the fight. As expected, the two vampires were getting their asses kicked. Perhaps he should've mentioned the part where the wearer would be incredibly tough to beat. Oh well, it was spilt milk at this point.<p>

Gohan's attention was pulled away when a part of the room exploded, a hole in the roof being the result. Seeing pale moonlight pouring in, the young man figured that was a part of Videl's plan, though he wasn't sure how she went about it. His vision was beginning to blur at the edges and he was beginning to feel his mind slipping into unconsciousness. All the exertion from that white room to here was taking its toll on him and crawling around wasn't doing him any good.

Then he heard a very sharp sound, followed by a few more. Looking down, he saw the mask clattering on the floor until it came to a stop against the wall. Its face was down on the floor, revealing its naked backside to the world. Well now, this looked promising.

Suveran was shouting about something now, but Gohan paid no mind to him. He needed to get at that mask and fortunately it wasn't too far away from the balcony. Only problem was that he was on the balcony with no idea how to get down. Well, actually he did have one but he didn't think he would enjoy it. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to come up with any other ideas so that was the one he would have to do.

Limply, he raised one of his arms to grab the railing and pulled himself up. His other arm got into the action when he had raised himself up some, pulling more until he was resting his stomach on the railing. Looking down, he couldn't help but take note of the height he was at.

This was not going to end well.

Taking a glance to make sure he was close to the mask, Gohan then pushed his arms against the railing and fell off. His body turned in the air until he landed hard on his back, Gohan only allowing himself to grunt from the sudden impact. Any louder would have brought everyone's attention to him and so far he needed some stealth for this.

Fortunately, no one noticed his fall nor heard his landing so he was good on that part. How he didn't know, but everyone seemed to be focused on Suveran. Always had to be the center of attention, didn't he? Well, in addition to that small luck the unconsciousness that was fighting for control was flung into the recesses of his mind for the moment. An unexpected benefit, but one he didn't really care to go through again. Slowly, he turned onto his side and then his stomach, tilting his head up to see the mask still on the floor. Gritting his teeth, he began dragging himself across the floor, inching closer to the mask with single-minded focus. His crawling seemed to stretch for eons as the mask always seemed much further than he thought it would be. His breathing was growing heavy once more, the young man not able to keep them quiet. Oh Lord, please don't let someone take that mask after everything he had done.

For a moment, Gohan swore he blacked out. He wasn't sure for how long, but the next thing he knew, he was lying in front of the mask, staring into its backside. Alright, it was now or never. Taking a deep breath, he then lowered his face into it until he felt the cool metal of the mask touch his skin.

Nothing seemed to happen for several moments. Gohan just laid there with his face in the thing, nary a thought crossing his mind. But then a warmth began to grow within him, filling out every last part of his body. He soon felt energize, flooded with more power than he could possibly know what to do with it.

It was incredible.

* * *

><p>Suveran stood in front of Videl and Sharpner, his eyes boring holes into them with repressed anger. "You're going to tell me how you were able to remove my mask," he stated clearly, almost daring them to resist. "I was led to believe there was no way it could come off, yet you prove that false. I do not care if I have to torture the information out of you, you will tell me."<p>

Videl stared up at the vampire, trying her best to look unaffected by the threat. Considering that she felt like puking up her insides at the moment that was a bit harder to do than she wished. Vaguely she wondered why the guy hadn't gone and retrieved the mask already, since it seemed so important to him. That thought ended up replaced by another one that said "why bother?" It wasn't like there was a threat here that required him to get his hands on it quickly. It definitely explained why he was so focused on her and Sharpner. Of course, one of his men could have picked it up while she wasn't looking, though a quick glance at the other vampires in the room showed that none of them had bothered moving. It seemed they were of the type to do as they were told, not as they thought, assuming they actually had thoughts of their own.

"Nothing? You choose to hide in precious silence? Fine by me." Suveran turned on his heels and began walking to his vampire horde, heading to the open doors behind them. "See to it that those two become acquainted with the dungeon," he ordered his lackeys. A pause made him stop his stride. "Do the same with the Guardian too. She may know of some things as well." Starting his walk again, he added "And someone bring me my mask."

Immediately, the vampires spread out, carrying out Suveran's orders. Lazily, Videl watched them search—half-searching herself—for the mask. She wasn't sure where it had landed but maybe it would prove to be hard to find. Hmph, fat chance of that happening considering her current string of luck.

Tilting her head to a side, she watched as a vampire—Crane if she wasn't mistaken—approached Chichi to apprehend her. It wouldn't be all that hard since the witch probably didn't have enough power to fight him off, much less an entire unit of highly-trained vampires. Chichi even looked resigned as she didn't make a move to defend herself.

And then there was someone standing in between the witch and the vampire, his posture as straight as a rail. Videl had to blink her eyes—along with Chichi and Crane—to make sure she wasn't seeing things. Several blinks later and she was sure she wasn't seeing things. Who the heck was this guy? Running her eyes up and down him, she soon became transfixed on the golden mask on his face, the one that Suveran had worn only minutes ago.

Oh…crap…

"The mask!" Crane exclaimed, staring at the man's hidden face. "How dare you put it on your unworthy face!" he then roared. "Remove it at once! Do it now before I rip it off!"

"I don't think you'll be very successful with that," the person said, that warped hollow voice filling everyone's ears. A jolt of recognition ran through Videl's mind at that moment. She knew that voice! That was Gohan! And somehow he had gotten his hands on that mask. For a second, she felt like crying and cheering. Perhaps that painful fate Suveran wanted wouldn't come to pass.

"You'll wish you had never said that," Crane threatened. "Now I will kill you and I promise you, it won't be—"

Gohan chose then to interrupt the guy, though not with words. Instead he raised one of his hands up and held it right in front of the vampire's face. A moment later and a beam of golden light fired out of his hand, enveloping Crane as he screamed, the beam racing to the other side of the room as other vampires leapt out of the beam's way. Instinctively, Videl raised both of her arms in front of her face to shield her eyes from the intense light, feeling an intense burning sensation. Because of this, she completely missed watching Crane silently scream as he was flung backwards, his body disintegrating until it completely disappeared within the light.

Videl wasn't sure how long the light lasted, but eventually she felt the pain in her arms lessen. Taking that as her cue to open her eyes, she lowered her arms and fluttered her eyes open. She saw no remains of Crane, just Gohan maintaining his stance with Chichi staring wide-eyed behind him. Moving her eyes to her arms to see what had hurt her, Videl was immediately surprised to find black burn marks on them. How the hell did that happen? She was pretty sure that light hadn't touched her, yet it looked as if she had put a blow torch to them. A quick look around confirmed that everyone else had similar burns on them; though a look at Chichi showed her completely unharmed. Now that didn't make sense. How did Chichi get away without an injury, yet everyone else was on their way to being charbroiled? That light should have burned her as much as it did everyone else. She was just as vulnerable if not more so due to her mortality. The only light that wouldn't hurt Chichi but would her was sunlight.

Wait a second. Bright light, burnt arms, and the only one not hurt just happened to be the only person not a vampire. Holy crap, Gohan had fired a freaking beam of sunlight at that guy! Was he nuts? She was in here too in case he had forgotten!

"Kill him! Kill him!" she heard Suveran screech from somewhere near the back of the room. The other vampires looked hesitant, especially after seeing one of their comrades incinerated moments earlier. In fact, if Videl wasn't mistaken they were actually moving away from Gohan.

Gohan, on the other hand, wasn't quite finished with them. Holding both of his hands in front of him, balls of bright light appeared in his palms, his fingers curling over them slightly. Videl couldn't help but stare into the light, marveling at its intensity and dreading what it meant for her. It didn't seem to occur or even matter to him that she was there. With a nervous gulp, Videl couldn't help but feel like this would be the end of the line for her.

Then the orbs of light in Gohan's hands lashed out in a blinding white light, filling every nook and cranny of the room. And due to the open door on the other side of the room, the light poured into the mansion, touching every wall, decoration, and person in it. Videl had jerked her head away, her eyes shut tight and prepared to feel herself being burnt alive. Yet, she didn't feel anything. All around her, she could hear the screams of the other vampires, but not once did she feel the pain she was expecting. Oh, the darkness she usually saw when she closed her eyes was an intense red at the moment, but other than that, nothing. When the screaming ended and the redness began to fade into darkness, Videl hesitantly opened her eyes.

The first thing she saw was that everything around her was a translucent purple color. Needless to say, Videl was surprised by that. Looking to her side, she found Sharpner next to her, bathed in the purple glow and relatively unharmed.

Then the light faded away, returning the room back to its original color, though with a lot more black in it. Charred corpses littered the floor, some still smoldering. Most of them were just lumps to be honest, with one or two retaining some humanoid shape. A common theme was that the legs and arms were completely gone, their torsos and possibly a misshapen head being the last remains, if they were lucky. Some were just completely gone.

Finally, Videl turned her head to look at Gohan and Chichi and found only one of them. Chichi was kneeling on the floor, the same purple light that had covered her enveloping the witch. The light soon faded away and Chichi collapsed to the floor, her breathing heavy. Wincing, Videl forced herself up and stumbled her way to the woman, dropping next to her as she began checking the witch for signs of life.

"I'm not dead," she heard Chichi muttered after awhile, causing the girl to smile weakly.

"Mind telling me what that light was?"

"The light from the guy in the mask? No clue," Chichi replied.

"No, the purple one around you and I guess that was around me."

"Oh that. A simple shielding spell, though I nearly forgot to put one on myself. I imagine I'd be blind if I hadn't put it on at the last second, though it certainly protected you and that blond guy over there."

"Yeah, thanks," Videl said before turning to look at Sharpner. However, her eyes stopped on a figure standing towards the other side of the room like an angel of death. Gohan. What was he doing all the way over there?

"I see," she heard him suddenly say. "It seems some of the mask's power rubbed off on you."

A pained gasped was suddenly made, followed by a curse. "How?" a raspy, impaired voice demanded. "How could you do that? Even with the mask, I couldn't do that. So how could you? Tell me, damn it!"

Videl watched as Gohan kneeled down and grabbed something. Rising back up, she saw him holding up a body around the neck. It was hard to tell who it was, since half of the body was burned beyond recognition. It was like staring at a skeleton with burnt meat hanging off of it. However, the other side was relatively whole and from what Videl could make of it, she could have sworn that was Suveran.

"You are a creature of the night," Gohan's warped, hollowed voice intoned. "It has been so long since you've walked in the light of a sun you do not fully grasp the power of it. I on the other hand…"

At this, Gohan's hand squeezed down on Suveran's throat, causing him to cough hoarsely. "I know very well the power of the sun. I live in it and drink in its rays rather than shun it like you. Besides," at this mirth began to fill the young man's voice, "you have a rather limited imagination, Vampire. You never would have thought to use the mask like this."

An enraged, strangled cry ripped out of the vampire's lips. "I'll kill you!" he shouted. "For what you've done to me, I will tear you apart limb from limb!"

"No, I don't believe you will."

From Gohan's feet, flames suddenly erupted, reaching higher and higher until they completely surrounded him and Suveran. Videl stared mesmerized by the fire, its roar reaching her ears. It was like watching a bonfire, the flames compelling you to watch it.

Then as sudden as it started, the flames disappeared with no sign of Gohan or Suveran anywhere.


	24. Chapter 24

It had been a week since the events at the Soare Clan Mansion. Seven long days for Videl to recover from and she had to say her burns were finally fading away. She currently had what amounted to a bad sunburn at the moment, something she hadn't felt in eons and she was pretty sure why she wouldn't be feeling another one anytime soon.

Today she was spending the day at Chichi's shop. The witch had been having some problems with her sight, namely that she was having a little trouble seeing things. Apparently all of that light that flooded the mansion that night—killing damn near every vampire in there—had ended up affecting the mortal woman after all. Now that she thought about it, it would have been the equivalent of staring into the sun for far too long. Chichi had been fortunate enough to get a shield up to protect her eyes when she did, but there were still some damage that needed fixing.

So Videl found herself helping the woman pack her things away. Using her magic, the witch had enchanted a bag to hold everything in her store, along with her personal possessions. That had made the packing much easier.

"That should be the last of it," Videl commented as she closed the bag. All around her Chichi's upstairs apartment was completely bare. It looked as if no one had stayed there aside from the chair Chichi was sitting in. "You sure you should be leaving though? I mean, you said you were having some trouble with your eyesight."

"That's why I'm going, dear," Chichi replied humbly. With sunglasses perched on her face, the woman sat demurely in her chair. "I need to have this fixed and the only person I'd trust to do it is my old teacher. She'll be dodgy about it in the beginning, but eventually she'll help. Besides, I need to get back on the road."

At this Videl nodded. "To find your son. I understand. I'm sorry my friend got away. I'm sure he could've been of some use."

Chichi waved that off. "That's alright, I'm sure I'll run into your vampire hunter friend sooner or later."

Shortly after they had left the mansion, Videl had told the witch about Gohan. The deal they made, how long they had been working, and even the embodiment inside him. Chichi had first been bewildered about the arrangement, but seemed to accept it. Soon the only thing she cared about was that he had her tracking spell attached to him. It had been a relief for Videl to finally tell someone of that secret and then promptly not have that person try and kill her.

And speaking of sharing secrets, the only other person in the know, the counteragent Sharpner, had gone into hiding. Since he had aided the enemy, he was taking no chance at being found, only leaving her a contact number in case she ran into Gohan. He still wanted his rematch with the vampire hunter and until that score was settled, he was keeping out of sight.

That's where Videl's thoughts became gloomy. She had seen neither hide nor hair of Gohan since he had disappeared in that shroud of flames. It was as if he had disappeared off the face of the earth. Now with Chichi leaving, her group of friends was increasingly dropping to zero. She was starting to feel lonely.

Apparently Chichi was sensitive to her mood. "It's always sad to see friends go," she said. "But just because we're not around each other doesn't mean we can't stay in contact."

Videl perked up at this. "That's right! So how do we do this?"

"Well, most people usually have cell phones or are they not in vogue for vampires?"

A blush covered the girl's face. For a moment there, she thought Chichi was going to enchant some object to give them a direct line to each other. Silly her for forgetting the advances of the modern era. Then again, she technically could apply for most government retirement programs. Pulling out her phone she then said "Tell me your number and I'll send you mine."

Once the two had exchanged numbers, the two fell into a silence. "Well, I suppose I should get going," Chichi finally said. "No need to make this any more awkward."

"Yeah, right," Videl murmured, watching the witch push herself up. The two women left the apartment, heading downstairs to the barren shop. That had been the first place Chichi had instructed her to pack up and Videl had made sure she did the job right. For the first time since she had found the place, the room was wide open, none of the shelves that were crammed in here were present. Having to comb through everything as she packed it into Chichi's magic bag, the vampire had found so many thing she never would have dreamed existed. It made her wonder where she had found all of them. And she was still curious as to how the witch had gotten her hands on so many "dragonballs." You know, since she would have imagined the dragons hadn't been very happy with the idea.

Upon exiting the store, Chichi locked the door with the key and murmured an unintelligible word. In a puff of smoke, the key vanished from sight. "What did you do with that?" Videl asked.

"Just sent it to the building's owner. I rather not have to drop the key at his place or just leave it lying around for some delinquent to pick up," Chichi answered. Taking a deep breath then, she looked up and down the street before looking to Videl. "Mind giving me a ride to the bus station? I rather not wait at one of the stops with my eyes being in less than ideal shape."

"No problem," Videl said as she fished out her keys. "Follow me. I didn't park too far away."

Between the store and the bus station, Chichi and Videl made three stops: one for a bit to eat, another for Videl fill up her car, and a last one at the city park. Each knew they were stalling for time, to push back their final farewell for as long as they could, but neither made mention of it. Eventually, they reached the station, both of them looking at it as with reluctance. "I don't think we can postpone this any further," the witch sighed with resignation. Looking to the vampire girl, she said "I'm very glad that I've met you, Videl. It's been one of my better experiences on this journey."

"Took the words right out of my mouth," Videl replied, a wary smile on her face. Unshed tears were gathering around her eyes, Videl fighting furiously to keep them from falling.

Putting her hand on the girl, Chichi gave her shoulder a squeeze. "Thank you Videl. For everything." Then without another word, Chichi exited the car, bag in hand, and made her way inside the station. Wiping her eyes, Videl sat in the car for several minutes, trying to compose herself. It had been a long time since she had a genuine friend. She really was going to miss the older woman. Though with the way things were going, perhaps she should just follow her to her master's place. They could both look for her son and wouldn't have to part like this.

That thought lit something in her. Yeah, that's what she'd do. Though Chichi probably wouldn't want her to go with her to her master's house, she'd definitely let the witch know that when she was ready, she had her little vampire friend ready to help her scour the earth. Yeah, yeah, she really liked the sound of that.

Feeling better about herself, Videl revved her engine and left the station. The drive back to the apartment went like a blur and before she knew it, she was at her apartment door, unlocking it and walking inside.

A sigh escaped the girl's lips as she was greeted with the sight of her same old, same old apartment. It was a dreary feeling to say the least, especially when all the excitement of life seemed to be sucked out of everything. Ugh, she was starting to become depressed.

Walking pass the kitchen, a nice aroma wafting from it, Videl found her way to her couch and plopped on it. Part of her wanted to just sit there for the next century, just wasting away. Tonight had been too draining for her. Unfortunately, she wasn't tired enough to go to her room and call it a night. To top it all off, she didn't even have the energy to reach out to her TV remote and turn the TV on. It just seemed like too much work.

"Rough day?" she heard Gohan ask her.

"You can say that," she answered apathetically. "It was just really exhausting."

It was a couple moments later that Videl realized what had happened. Eyes snapping wide open as her head jerked up, she whipped her head around to catch sight of Gohan leaning out of the kitchen doorway, a frying pan in one hand and a spatula in the other, looking at her impassively.

"YOU!" she exclaimed, startling the young lad. "But what…how…why are…wha?"

"Uhh, anything wrong?" Gohan asked perplexed.

Videl's mind finally caught up with her, just in time to wipe that goldfish look on her face. "You're here. But how? Why?"

"Umm, yeah I'm here. I walked through the door. Because I live here," Gohan answered.

Videl would later blame it on the stress caused by that tearful parting with Chichi, but at that moment her brain just shut down. If she had been a computer, she would have gotten that dreaded blue screen of death. Thankfully she wasn't a computer so she was able to reboot herself after staring at Gohan for who knows how long. "I thought you had left," she finally said.

Gohan cocked an eyebrow at her before retreating back into the kitchen. "Where did you get that idea?" he called out to her.

"Well, I saw you vanish in a pillar of flames. I had no idea where you had gone."

There was some clinking and clanking before Gohan reappeared, walking over to her and taking a seat on the back of the couch, causing him to look down on her as he replied "Well, I had to hide the mask again, somewhere where it wouldn't be found as easily. Took me the better of four days to find a decent place."

That made sense. She hadn't even thought about the mask after it had vanished. Obviously that had been on the top of Gohan's list of things-to-do. That just left one other thing. "And what of Suveran? What happened to him?"

"He's dead," Gohan answered simply. "I can assure you, he didn't like that very much."

"I'm sure no one actually _likes_ being killed," Videl retorted. Then a thought occurred to her. "So now what? You pretty much emptied the Soare Clan Mansion so there aren't that many vampires left here."

"But there still are a few remaining ones," Gohan countered. "I told you once I would clear this area out of vampires and I intend on doing that. Once this place is pretty much cleared, I'll move on."

A sinking feeling began to grow in Videl's stomach. Though he hadn't said it out loud, his goal of vampire extermination meant that she would be apart of his extremely shortened to-kill list. Her time living here was coming to an end and Gohan would make sure she didn't see another moon.

Yet a part of her hoped he might give her some leniency. After all, she had helped him all this time. Maybe he could give her a head start or something? "And what about me?" she asked uneasily. "What'll you do with me?"

Gohan blinked his eyes. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, I am a vampire. Do you intend on killing me as well?"

The young man hesitated at that. "Well, you have been useful…" he said slowly. "I don't see why you can't continue being useful."

"Meaning?"

"Well, I still need to root out any remaining vampires here, not to mention new ones immigrating here. I'm sure you can find those out, right?"

Hmm, it seemed Gohan was giving her a bargaining chip here. "And why should I help you do that? After all, you do intend on killing me eventually."

"Why would I kill someone that can help me?"

Videl was starting to feel better about herself and her current situation by now. It seemed her ideas after seeing Gohan fulfill his obligation to her were coming to fruition and from the very guy she felt she had to barter with. What an interesting turn of events here. "And after that? I don't mean to sound like a broken record here, but I do like having some security for my future here."

Gohan sighed, looking down at her from his perch. "Well, I would imagine the Council will become aware of the sudden decrease of vampire activity in the coming weeks, if they don't know already by now. I would think they would try to figure out what happened and this could prove an opportunity to strike a serious blow at them. And I wouldn't mind any assistance offered to me…"

A coy look began to grow across Videl's face. "So, are you offering me a partnership, Vampire Hunter?"

A grin appeared on Gohan's face. "Perhaps. As long as we don't try to kill each other, Vampire."

"So we have to trust each other on that?" Videl paused, feeling her more teasing nature rearing its head. "I don't know. I mean, I think I could try this trusting thing, but it's you I'm not so sure of. I don't even know what your real last name is."

An amused look appeared on the young man's face. "Is that such a big deal to you?"

"Well, you told me your real first name to show you had trust in me. What's wrong with asking for a little more?"

"I guess I can accommodate that."

Videl held out a hand to Gohan. "I believe we have a deal then."

Gohan clasped her hand with his own and gave her a solid shake. "So we do."

"So what is it?" the vampire girl asked, a smile growing on her face. "I bet it's something embarrassing. No wonder you went with Sing."

"No, it's nothing like that," Gohan admitted. "Or at least I don't think it is. It's Son."

* * *

><p>Well, that's it for the story. It's been a fun ride if I don't say so myself. And before anyone asks, yes, I "borrowed" Merlin's magical bag from Sword in the Stone. It was a very convenient prop to use at the moment and at the very least, none of the furniture was dancing in and out of it.<p>

Moving along, I would like to thank everyone that read and reviewed this story. I appreciated all the comments and look forward to seeing you in other stories. To everyone else that simply read the story, I hope you enjoyed it and thank you for taking the time to read it as well.

Now that this story is finished, the next GV Week entry will be Framed, though I have another project I'm working on that's getting me excited. It's also AU—like everything else I'm planning on doing for awhile—but it is something I've been considering doing for a long time now. With the way things are going, you'll probably be seeing this surprise story first.

Once again, thank you everyone for reading, reviewing, and enjoying the story.

Until next time,

ShadowMajin


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